Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 166, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 8, 1998, 3:18 PM CDT for Lee County, Alabama. It was in force for 47 min. 3 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 8, 1998, 3:18 PM CDT (20:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 4:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lee County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:19 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 8, 3:30 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Auburn, AL | |
| Apr 8, 3:33 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Auburn, AL | |
| Apr 8, 3:37 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Opelika, 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 10:30 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
| Apr 8, 2:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 117 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 348 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -74 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 520 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 155 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
162 WUUS1 KBHM 082019 RRA SVRBHM ALC081-082105- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 318 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 405 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...LEE COUNTY... AT 317 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL MOVING INTO SOUTHWESTERN LEE COUNTY ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF AUBURN. THIS STORM WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH...AND SHOULD BE IN THE AUBURN AREA AROUND 330 PM. <<CALL TO ACTION>> 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 FOR RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 8, 9:46 AM CDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-090245- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 946 AM CDT WED APR 8 1998 SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EASTWARD ACROSS NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI AND WILL APPROACH THE WESTERN ALABAMA BORDER BEFORE NOON TODAY. ADDITIONAL STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTHERN ALABAMA SOUTH OF MONTGOMERY AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE HAIL AND HIGH WINDS AS THEY MOVE NORTHEASTWARD FROM THE GULF. AS THE AFTERNOON APPROACHES...NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA WILL BECOME FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND WATCHES WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS. ALSO...SOUTHERN ALABAMA WILL CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON AND THESE STORMS WILL AS WELL HAVE SEVERE POTENTIAL. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES AND STORM SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHWEST ALABAMA... SEE PRODUCT BHMSPSMOB. FOR SOUTHEAST ALABAMA... LOOK AT MIASPSTLH. FOR MORE WEATHER INFORMATION VISIT OUR INTERNET SITE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT HTTP://WWW.ACESAG.AUBURN.EDU/DEPARTMENT/NWS/
Special weather statement, Apr 8, 9:46 AM CDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-090245- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 946 AM CDT WED APR 8 1998 SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EASTWARD ACROSS NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI AND WILL APPROACH THE WESTERN ALABAMA BORDER BEFORE NOON TODAY. ADDITIONAL STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTHERN ALABAMA SOUTH OF MONTGOMERY AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE HAIL AND HIGH WINDS AS THEY MOVE NORTHEASTWARD FROM THE GULF. AS THE AFTERNOON APPROACHES...NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA WILL BECOME FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND WATCHES WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS. ALSO...SOUTHERN ALABAMA WILL CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON AND THESE STORMS WILL AS WELL HAVE SEVERE POTENTIAL. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES AND STORM SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHWEST ALABAMA... SEE PRODUCT BHMSPSMOB. FOR SOUTHEAST ALABAMA... LOOK AT MIASPSTLH. FOR MORE WEATHER INFORMATION VISIT OUR INTERNET SITE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT HTTP://WWW.ACESAG.AUBURN.EDU/DEPARTMENT/NWS/
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 10:09 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pike | 31 min |
| Apr 8, 10:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 65 min |
| Apr 8, 10:47 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 11:13 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Barbour | 32 min |
| Apr 8, 11:20 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 12:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 12:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 12:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 2:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 4:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 5:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Tallapoosa | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 6:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 6:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pickens | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 34 min |
| Apr 8, 6:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 32 min |
| Apr 8, 6:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 6:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 47 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998
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.