Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 169

April 21, 199719 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; Clay County, Quitman County, Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Apr 21, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT for 19 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; Clay County, Quitman County, Georgia. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 21, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired
Apr 21, 1997, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 28 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Clay County, GA, Quitman County, GA

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:49 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.

Warnings issued inside it

2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 21, 6:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBaldwin62 min
Apr 21, 6:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBConecuh57 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 183 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-04-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 489 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-04-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 73 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
489 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
545 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 21, 1:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCColbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison7 hr
Apr 21, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBlount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin and 11 more5 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Alabama, 1997Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Florida, 1997Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Georgia, 1997Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.