Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 99, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 25, 1997Madison County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 7:23 PM CDT for Madison County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 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 25, 1997, 7:23 PM CDT (00:23 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 67 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Madison County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 25, 7:23 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Huntsville, AL	A weak tornado touched down briefly south of Huntsville at the corner of Airport Road and Memorial Parkway. The awning of a Winn Dixie was ripped off. It was seen and video taped by several citizens and by a Channel 31 meteorologist.

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 nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 1073 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 688 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 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.

000 
TTAA00 KHSV 260023 RRA
TORHSV
ALC089-260130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
723 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...MADISON COUNTY
 
AT 721 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN HUNTSVILLE INDICATED A POSSIBLE
TORNADO IN SOUTH HUNSVILLE.
 
THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST SOUTH EAST AT 20 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 pFLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jackson, Madison	67 min
May 26, 5:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone	62 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.