Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 91, NWS Mobile, AL

April 5, 1997Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 5, 1997, 12:54 PM CST for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 66 min. 2 reports 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: Apr 5, 1997, 12:54 PM CST (18:54 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 1997, 2:00 PM CST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Mobile County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:54 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
Apr 5, 1:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Citronelle, AL	Several trees were blown down in Citronelle.
Apr 5, 1:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Bayou La Batre, AL	Several trees were blown down near Bayou La Batre. High winds also rolled a dog across the yard in the same area. The dog was not injured.

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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 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: 356 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 503 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 411 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 442 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 4.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

873 
WUUS1 KMOB 051855 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC097-052000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1254 PM CST SAT APR 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...MOBILE COUNTY
 
AT 1253 PM...MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS PUSHING INTO SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF MOBILE COUNTY. AREAS
AFFECTED WILL BE THE COMMUNITIES MAINLY SOUTH OF I-10 THROUGH 200
PM.  DOPPLER RADAR SHOWS THESE STORMS CONTAINING DAMAGING STRAIGHT
LINE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 12:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Washington	71 min
Apr 5, 1:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	67 min
Apr 5, 2:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	59 min
Apr 5, 2:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	46 min
Apr 5, 2:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	64 min
Apr 5, 2:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	64 min
Apr 5, 3:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	58 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.