Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 26, 1998Walker County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 26, 1998, 3:42 PM CST for Walker County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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 26, 1998, 3:42 PM CST (21:42 UTC)
Expired
Feb 26, 1998, 4:30 PM CST
In force
48 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 21:45 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 26, 1:15 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1998-02-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-02-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 158 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2334 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

471 
WUUS1 KBHM 262143 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC127-262230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
342 PM CST THU FEB 26 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...WALKER COUNTY...

AT 340 PM CST... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
OVER WALKER COUNTY...BETWEEN OAKMAN AND BANKHEAD LAKE.  THIS LINE WAS
MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH...AND WILL AFFECT JASPER AND THE REMAINDER OF
WALKER COUNTY BETWEEN 345 PM AND 430 PM.  LARGE HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED
WITH THIS STORM NEAR OAKMAN.



<<CALL TO ACTION>>
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE... SEEK REFUGE FROM THE STORM IN A
STRONG BUILDING. BOATERS ON AREA LAKES SHOULD TAKE SHELTER.
DAMAGING WIND... LARGE HAIL... VERY HEAVY RAIN... AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE ALL LIKELY. DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER TREES OR OTHER
ISOLATED TALL OBJECTS. THESE ATTRACT LIGHTNING. DO NOT 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 26, 10:10 AM CST, 5 hours 32 minutes before
ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-262000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDTAED
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1010 AM CST TUE FEB 26 1998

THE SLIGHT RISK AREA FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
THIS EVENING HAS BEEN EXTENDED EAST TO INCLUDE ALL OF ALABAMA.

A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR SOUTH MISSISSIPPI.  STRONG STORMS
WERE JUST CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT 10 AM AND MAY REACH WEST
ALABAMA BY MID AFTERNOON...AND THEN CONTINUE EASTWARD THROUGH THE
EVENING HOURS.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IN WEST
ALABAMA MAY BE NECESSARY BY MID AFTERNOON...AND ELSEWHERE THIS EVENING.
FOR MORE WEZATHER 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 26, 1:11 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPickens, Sumter49 min
Feb 26, 2:02 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXGreene, Pickens, Sumter48 min
Feb 26, 2:32 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXHale, Tuscaloosa58 min
Feb 26, 3:10 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXTuscaloosa35 min
Feb 26, 3:22 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson93 min
Feb 26, 3:31 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry59 min
Feb 26, 3:50 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby40 min
Feb 26, 4:19 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb31 min
Feb 26, 4:25 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby45 min
Feb 26, 4:36 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry34 min
Feb 26, 4:46 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb, Chilton49 min
Feb 26, 5:02 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega48 min
Feb 26, 5:07 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby63 min
Feb 26, 5:13 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry47 min
Feb 26, 5:16 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDallas49 min
Feb 26, 5:46 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton44 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.