Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 62, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 22, 1997, 4:00 PM CDT for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 30 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 22, 1997, 4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 22, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County DeKalb County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 1:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 8 hr |
| Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 168 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1576 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -52 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 667 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 117 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 216 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 6.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 222059 TORHSV ALC049-222130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 400 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...DEKALB COUNTY AT 357 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND NEAR RAINSVILLE IN DEKALB COUNTY MOVING EAST NORTHELAST AT 40 TO 50 MPH. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS. &
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 22, 3:27 PM CDT, 33 minutes before
ALZ001>004-011>015-022-023-030>032-039-222130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 327 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE TORNADO WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST ALABAMA... LAUDERDALE..COLBERT..FRANKLIN...LAWRENCE..MARION..WINSTON.. LAMAR..FAYETTE..WALKER..PICKENS..TUSCALOOSA..GREENE..HALE.. SUMTER..MARENGO.
Special weather statement, Apr 22, 3:28 PM CDT, 32 minutes before
ALZ001>004-011>015-022-023-030>032-039-222130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 327 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE TORNADO WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST ALABAMA... LAUDERDALE..COLBERT..FRANKLIN...LAWRENCE..MARION..WINSTON.. LAMAR..FAYETTE..WALKER..PICKENS..TUSCALOOSA..GREENE..HALE.. SUMTER..MARENGO.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 7:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 56 min |
| Apr 21, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 55 min |
| Apr 21, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 55 min |
| Apr 21, 7:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 43 min |
| Apr 21, 10:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 67 min |
| Apr 21, 11:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 43 min |
| Apr 22, 1:03 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 1:12 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 1:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 1:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 66 min |
| Apr 22, 2:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 2:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 62 min |
| Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Jefferson, Walker | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 2:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 2:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bibb | 35 min |
| Apr 22, 2:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Dallas, Lowndes | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 2:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 35 min |
| Apr 22, 3:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Apr 22, 3:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 46 min |
| Apr 22, 3:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 47 min |
| Apr 22, 3:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 45 min |
| Apr 22, 3:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 3:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Lowndes | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 3:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 46 min |
| Apr 22, 3:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers, Randolph | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 4:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 4:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bullock, Macon | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 4:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marengo | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 5:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 5:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 min |
| Apr 22, 6:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 6:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 43 min |
| Apr 22, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 6:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore, Montgomery | 52 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes in 1997
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.