Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 642, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 31, 1998Montgomery County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 1998, 9:17 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Alabama. It was in force for 33 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
Jul 31, 1998, 9:17 PM CDT (02:17 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1998, 9:50 PM CDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Montgomery County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:21 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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 119 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 00:00Z on 1998-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2492 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 00:00Z on 1998-08-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 30 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
2492 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1214 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
121 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.

469 
WUUS1 KBHM 010217 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC101-010250-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
917 PM CDT FRI JUL 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 950 PM CDT

* AT 917 PM CDT... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS SHOWN...BY WEATHER RADAR
NEAR RAMER MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

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

WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING... PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 7:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTallapoosa33 min
Jul 31, 7:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee29 min
Jul 31, 8:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMacon35 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.