Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 62, NWS Mobile, AL

February 21, 1997Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 7:37 AM CST for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 53 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
Feb 21, 1997, 7:37 AM CST (13:37 UTC)
Expired
Feb 21, 1997, 8:30 AM CST
In force
53 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Clarke County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:39 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Feb 21, 8:10 AM CSTThunderstorm Wind 50Grove Hill, AL

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 21, 4:45 AM CSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 184 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1997-02-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 173 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1997-02-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 287 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
521 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
287 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
338 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 211338 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC025-211430-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
737 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 830 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CLARKE COUNTY
 
AT 735 AM...MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS PUSHING RAPIDLY TO THE NORTHEAST INTO CLARKE COUNTY. THE
STRONGEST STORMS WILL MOVE INTO AN AREA FROM BETWEEN
GROVE HILL TO THOMASVILLE AROUND 8 AM...CONTINUING INTO CHANCE ALABAMA
THROUGH BETWEEN 8 AND 830 AM.
 
THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF PRODUCING 60 MPH WINDS AS THEY
MOVE NORTHEAST NEAR 55 MPH.  DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE IS
AN IMMEDIATE THREAT IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADO8ES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 21, 7:19 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw, Washington56 min
Feb 21, 8:14 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWashington61 min
Feb 21, 8:21 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMonroe, Wilcox69 min
Feb 21, 9:24 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile, Washington66 min
Feb 21, 9:35 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke55 min
Feb 21, 10:03 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMonroe42 min
Feb 21, 10:11 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWilcox64 min
Feb 21, 10:50 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.