Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Mobile, AL

February 21, 1997Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 9:35 AM CST for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 55 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 21, 1997, 9:35 AM CST (15:35 UTC)
Expired: Feb 21, 1997, 10:30 AM CST
In force: 55 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 15:35 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.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Feb 21, 4:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr
Feb 21, 9:15 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 3.6 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-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: 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 211537 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC025-211630-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
935 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CLARKE COUNTY
 
AT 934 AM CST MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED ANOTHER SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO THE COUNTY FROM THE WEST. THE STORM WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE GROVE HILL AND WHATLEY AREAS BY 1000 AM. THE MAIN THREAT
FROM THIS STORM WILL BE FROM DAMAGING WINDS.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 21, 7:19 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Washington	56 min
Feb 21, 7:37 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	53 min
Feb 21, 8:14 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	61 min
Feb 21, 8:21 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe, Wilcox	69 min
Feb 21, 9:24 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile, Washington	66 min
Feb 21, 10:03 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	42 min
Feb 21, 10:11 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	64 min
Feb 21, 10:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.