Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 82, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 2, 1997Lamar County, Marion County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 6:40 PM CDT for Lamar County, Marion County, Alabama. It was in force for 45 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 1997, 6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 7:25 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lamar County, AL, Marion County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 32 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:41 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 2, 6:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Guin, AL	Trees were down in Guin, in the southwest part of the county.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 2, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 142 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1681 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 229 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

650 
WFUS1 KBHM 022340 RRA
TORBHM
ALC075-093-030025-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
640 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 725 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...LAMAR

IN NORTHERN ALABAMA

   ...MARION
 
AT 640 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO MOVING INTO
NORTHERN LAMAR COUNTY AND SOUTHERN MARION COUNTY.  THIS STORM WILL
LIKELY MOVE BETWEEN SULLIGENT AND HAMILTON.  THIS STORM HAS A LONG
HISTORY OF POSSIBLE TORNADOES AND WIND DAMAGE.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale	62 min
May 2, 3:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	56 min
May 2, 3:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	63 min
May 2, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	64 min
May 2, 4:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence	64 min
May 2, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	64 min
May 2, 4:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lauderdale	52 min
May 2, 4:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	81 min
May 2, 4:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Limestone	58 min
May 2, 4:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	35 min
May 2, 4:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Morgan	66 min
May 2, 5:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	66 min
May 2, 5:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Winston	35 min
May 2, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	31 min
May 2, 5:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	48 min
May 2, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	61 min
May 2, 5:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marshall	69 min
May 2, 5:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jackson	66 min
May 2, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	49 min
May 2, 5:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	50 min
May 2, 5:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	34 min
May 2, 6:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	DeKalb	69 min
May 2, 6:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Winston	51 min
May 2, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin, Lawrence	55 min
May 2, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Morgan	55 min
May 2, 6:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	47 min
May 2, 6:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jackson, Marshall	67 min
May 2, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	23 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.