Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 174, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 8, 1998Colbert County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 8, 1998, 6:28 PM CDT for Colbert County, Alabama. It was in force for 47 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 8, 1998, 6:28 PM CDT (23:28 UTC)
Expired: Apr 8, 1998, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Colbert County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 8, 6:45 PM CDT	Hail 1	Muscle Shoals, AL	Quarter size hail was reported just east of Muscle Shoals.
Apr 8, 6:50 PM CDT	Hail 1	Muscle Shoals, AL	Quarter size hail was reported just inside Colbert County near the county line.

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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -164 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 140 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

443 
WUUS1 KBHM 082329 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC033-090015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
628 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHERN ALABAMA

   ...COLBERT COUNTY...

AT 627 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTH
CENTRAL COLBERT COUNTY NEAR CROOKED OAK...MOVING NORTHEAST TOWARDS
MUSCLE SHOALS.



<<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.

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, 3:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	47 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, 6:31 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, 1998 Every 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.