Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 121, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 7, 1998Cleburne County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 11:30 PM CDT for Cleburne County, Alabama. It was in force for 50 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 7, 1998, 11:30 PM CDT (04:30 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1998, 12:20 AM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Cleburne County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 7, 11:45 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Heflin, AL	Golf ball size hail was reported in Heflin.

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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 7, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 2212 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 923 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 181 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 9.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

090 
WFUS1 KBHM 080428 RRA
TORBHM
ALC029-080520-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1130 PM CDT THU MAY 7 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CLEBURNE COUNTY... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 1220 AM CDT

* AT 1129 PM CDT... A TORNADO WAS DETECTED...BY NATIONAL WEATHER
  SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ENTERING WESTERN CLEBURNE COUNTY JUST EAST
  OF WHITE PLAINS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	31 min
May 7, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone	50 min
May 7, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jackson	65 min
May 7, 7:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Winston	64 min
May 7, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	50 min
May 7, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman, Winston	65 min
May 7, 8:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	49 min
May 7, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	62 min
May 7, 8:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	DeKalb, Jackson	64 min
May 7, 8:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marshall	52 min
May 7, 8:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence	65 min
May 7, 8:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount	62 min
May 7, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	35 min
May 7, 8:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	62 min
May 7, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	35 min
May 7, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	DeKalb	51 min
May 7, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	66 min
May 7, 9:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Etowah, St. Clair	65 min
May 7, 9:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	65 min
May 7, 9:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	49 min
May 7, 9:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	64 min
May 7, 9:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	61 min
May 7, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	65 min
May 7, 10:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	47 min
May 7, 10:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	32 min
May 7, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	49 min
May 7, 11:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	62 min
May 7, 11:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun	36 min
May 7, 11:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	50 min
May 8, 12:00 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun	50 min
May 8, 12:18 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.