Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 3, 1998Chambers County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 1998, 7:16 PM CST for Chambers County, Alabama. It was in force for 29 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: Apr 3, 1998, 7:16 PM CST (01:16 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 1998, 7:45 PM CST
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Chambers County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:16 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 2522 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 530 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 151 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 270 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 676 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 34.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

596 
WFUS1 KBHM 040118 RRA
TORBHM
ALC017-040145-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
716 PM CST FRI APR 3 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...CHAMBERS COUNTY
 
AT 716 PM CST A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY RADAR NEAR LAFAYETTE MOVING
EAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 6:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marshall	35 min
Apr 3, 6:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	49 min
Apr 3, 6:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah	33 min
Apr 3, 7:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	35 min
Apr 3, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	33 min
Apr 3, 8:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	33 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.