Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 20, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 17, 1998, 4:19 AM CST for Clay County, Alabama. It was in force for 51 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 17, 1998, 4:19 AM CST (10:19 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 17, 1998, 5:10 AM CST
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Clay County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 2:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 86 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
- 572 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -33 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 635 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 255 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 271 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 5.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
350 WUUS1 KBHM 171022 RRA SVRBHM ALC027-171110- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 419 AM CST TUE FEB 17 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 510 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...CLAY COUNTY... AT 418 AM CST... WEATHER RADAR AND STORM SPOTTER REPORTS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BLUFF SPRINGS. MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN BLUFF SPRINGS. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. <<CALL TO ACTION>> SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 60 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. &
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, Feb 17, 4:00 AM CST, 19 minutes before
ALZ030>033-039-040-049-050-171100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 400 AM CST TUE FEB 17 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: SUMTER...GREENE...HALE...PERRY MARENGO...DALLAS..PIKE AND BARBOUR.
Special weather statement, Feb 17, 4:00 AM CST, 19 minutes before
ALZ030>033-039-040-049-050-171100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 400 AM CST TUE FEB 17 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: SUMTER...GREENE...HALE...PERRY MARENGO...DALLAS..PIKE AND BARBOUR.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 12:48 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 1:13 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 1:19 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 1:45 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga | 50 min |
| Feb 17, 1:49 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 56 min |
| Feb 17, 2:18 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 2:22 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 63 min |
| Feb 17, 2:31 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 64 min |
| Feb 17, 2:37 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 18 min |
| Feb 17, 3:12 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 48 min |
| Feb 17, 3:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 64 min |
| Feb 17, 3:44 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Lowndes | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 3:54 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 4:03 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 4:37 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 63 min |
| Feb 17, 4:44 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 51 min |
| Feb 17, 5:04 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 5:25 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 50 min |
| Feb 17, 6:14 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 31 min |
| Feb 17, 4:08 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cleburne | 62 min |
| Feb 17, 4:08 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay, Randolph | 62 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.