Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 50, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 6, 1998Talladega County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 6, 1998, 4:10 AM CST for Talladega County, Alabama. It was in force for 35 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: Mar 6, 1998, 4:10 AM CST (10:10 UTC)
Expired: Mar 6, 1998, 4:45 AM CST
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Talladega County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:13 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
Mar 6, 4:20 AM CST	Hail 0.75	Sylacauga, AL
Mar 6, 4:27 AM CST	Hail 1.75	Fayetteville, AL

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

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 61 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 52 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.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 061010 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC121-061045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
410 AM CST FRI MAR 6 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...SOUTHERN TALLADEGA COUNTY...

AT 409 AM CST... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
SYLACAUGA MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.  LARGE HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM.

<<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

Local storm report, Mar 6, 1:48 AM CST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
148 AM CST FRI MAR 06 1998

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0136 AM    MILLPORT                  AL   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/06/98   LAMAR

0146 AM    MOORES BRIDGE             AL   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/06/98   TUSCALOOSA                     GOLFBALL HAIL REPORTED AT
                                          MAYFIELD COMMUNITY NEAR
                                          MOORES BRIDGE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 5, 11:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	51 min
Mar 6, 12:21 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	64 min
Mar 6, 1:13 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Tuscaloosa	62 min
Mar 6, 1:49 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	61 min
Mar 6, 2:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Pickens, Tuscaloosa	45 min
Mar 6, 4:27 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa, Tallapoosa	48 min
Mar 6, 3:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	26 min
Mar 6, 4:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	32 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.