Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 94, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 11:06 PM CDT for Blount County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 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, 11:06 PM CDT (04:06 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 1997, 11:55 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Blount County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:08 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, 11:25 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Royal, AL | Trees were reported down in the Royal community, in the central 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, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 91 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.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 030406 RRA TORBHM ALC009-030455- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1106 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1155 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA ...BLOUNT AT 1105 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 8 MILES WEST OF BLOUNTSVILLE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... BLOUNTSVILLE AROUND 1111 PM CDT BROOKSVILLE AROUND 1121 PM CDT SUMMIT AROUND 1121 PM CDT IF YOU LIVE IN A HOME OR APARTMENT...SEEK REFUGE IN THE INNERMOST PORTION OF THE BUILDING ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. GET TO A BASEMENT IF ONE IS AVAILABLE. AVOID WINDOWS AND PROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS...BLANKETS...OR PILLOWS.
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, 10:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 62 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, 11:10 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.