Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 291, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 3, 1998Macon County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1998, 4:06 PM CDT for Macon County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 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
May 3, 1998, 4:06 PM CDT (21:06 UTC)
Expired
May 3, 1998, 4:55 PM CDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Macon County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 19 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:05 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 3, 4:25 PM CDTHail 2.75Tuskegee, ALGolf ball to baseball size hail was reported north of Tuskegee along I-85.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 3, 2:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 135 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 1998-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 446 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 1998-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
446 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1216 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 032106 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC087-032155-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
406 PM CDT SUN MAY 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MACON COUNTY... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 455 PM CDT

* AT 405 PM CDT... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING LARGE HAIL WAS
  SHOWN...BY WEATHER RADAR JUST SOUTH OF TUSKEGEE. IT WAS MOVING EAST
SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL.

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

The office that day

Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 2:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarengo46 min
May 3, 2:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDallas, Perry63 min
May 3, 2:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga49 min
May 3, 2:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCalhoun, Talladega48 min
May 3, 2:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour49 min
May 3, 3:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarengo49 min
May 3, 3:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore48 min
May 3, 3:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCleburne47 min
May 3, 3:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMacon, Tallapoosa47 min
May 3, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLowndes46 min
May 3, 3:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCherokee, DeKalb63 min
May 3, 3:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Dallas47 min
May 3, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMontgomery65 min
May 3, 3:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry36 min
May 3, 3:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb, Tuscaloosa46 min
May 3, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore47 min
May 3, 4:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRussell64 min
May 3, 4:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCoosa, Tallapoosa48 min
May 3, 4:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby20 min
May 3, 4:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton63 min
May 3, 4:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDallas36 min
May 3, 4:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb18 min
May 3, 4:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour46 min
May 3, 4:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBullock, Pike65 min
May 3, 4:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb33 min
May 3, 5:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChambers65 min
May 3, 5:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRandolph62 min
May 3, 5:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee48 min
May 3, 5:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton50 min
May 3, 5:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour60 min
May 3, 5:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay, Talladega49 min
May 3, 6:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay34 min
May 3, 6:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRandolph61 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.