Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 175, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 8, 1998, 6:33 PM CDT for Walker County, Alabama. It was in force for 32 min. 1 report 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, 6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 7:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 32 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Walker County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:35 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 6:50 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Good Spgs, AL | Golf ball size hail was reported in Goodsprings, in the southern part of the county. |
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, 2:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 84 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
- 880 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -44 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 505 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 145 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 3.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
468 WUUS1 KBHM 082334 RRA SVRBHM ALC127-090005- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 633 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 705 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...SOUTHERN WALKER COUNTY... AT 632 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR THE TOWN OF GOODSPRINGS AND GORGAS. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT NEAR 40 MILES PER HOUR. <<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, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 34 min |
| Apr 8, 6:38 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.