Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 92, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 10:28 PM CDT for Cullman County, Alabama. It was in force for 62 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, 10:28 PM CDT (03:28 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 1997, 11:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cullman County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:32 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, 11:00 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Hanceville, AL | Golf ball size hail was reported in Hanceville. |
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, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 106 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
- 1924 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 894 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 170 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 279 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.0
- Supercell composite
- 11.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
073 WFUS1 KBHM 030328 RRA TORBHM ALC043-030430- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1028 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA ...CULLMAN AT 1026 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND POSSIBLE TORNADO 11 MILES WEST OF WILBURN MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... WILBURN AROUND 1035 PM CDT BREMEN AROUND 1040 PM CDT TRIMBLE AROUND 1044 PM CDT CULLMAN AROUND 1054 PM CDT THIS STORM PRODUCED 67 MPH WINDS BETWEEN CARBON HILL AND JASPER WHEN IT PASSED THROUGH WALKER COUNTY AROUND 1025 PM. 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, 7:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 50 min |
| May 2, 7:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 47 min |
| May 2, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison, Morgan | 55 min |
| May 2, 7:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 61 min |
| May 2, 7:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 63 min |
| May 2, 8:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 57 min |
| May 2, 8:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 49 min |
| May 2, 8:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 60 min |
| May 2, 8:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 33 min |
| May 2, 8:54 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar | 61 min |
| May 2, 9:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette | 78 min |
| May 2, 9:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 48 min |
| May 2, 9:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker | 64 min |
| May 2, 10:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar | 65 min |
| May 2, 10:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 32 min |
| May 2, 10:41 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall | 4 hr |
| May 2, 10:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette | 63 min |
| May 2, 11:06 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker | 50 min |
| May 2, 11:12 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cullman, Marion, Walker, Winston | 3 hr |
| May 2, 11:12 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar | 3 hr |
| May 2, 11:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 43 min |
| May 2, 11:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 64 min |
| May 3, 12:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson | 59 min |
| May 3, 12:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 34 min |
| May 3, 12:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 65 min |
| May 3, 12:15 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Etowah | 45 min |
| May 3, 12:22 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 48 min |
| May 3, 12:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 66 min |
| May 3, 1:42 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 33 min |
| May 3, 1:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 50 min |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Walker | 4 hr |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cullman, Winston | 4 hr |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount | 4 hr |
| May 3, 2:32 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall | 3 hr |
| May 3, 3:27 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 48 min |
| May 3, 3:54 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 36 min |
| May 3, 3:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale | 31 min |
| May 3, 5:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 49 min |
| May 3, 5:37 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton | 63 min |
| May 3, 6:11 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 49 min |
| May 3, 6:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 47 min |
| May 3, 6:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 47 min |
| May 3, 7:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 35 min |
| May 3, 7:58 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 47 min |
| May 3, 8:04 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Macon | 31 min |
| May 3, 8:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 30 min |
| May 3, 8:39 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.