Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 22, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 8, 1998, 6:22 PM CDT for Chambers County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 min. 3 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
- Apr 8, 1998, 6:22 PM CDT (23:22 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 7:10 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 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 23:26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 6:25 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Lafayette, AL | |
| Apr 8, 6:30 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Lafayette, AL | |
| Apr 8, 6:35 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Lafayette, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 2:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 348 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -74 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 520 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 155 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
419 WFUS1 KBHM 082323 RRA TORBHM ALC017-090010- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 622 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 710 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...CHAMBERS COUNTY... AT 621 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR CAMP HILL MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. IT SHOULD BE IN THE LAFAYETTE AREA AROUND 640 PM. <<CALL TO ACTION>> IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE... SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT... SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT... DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 10:09 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pike | 31 min |
| Apr 8, 10:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 65 min |
| Apr 8, 10:47 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 11:13 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Barbour | 32 min |
| Apr 8, 11:20 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 12:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 12:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 12:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 2:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 3:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 4:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 5:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Tallapoosa | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 6:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 6:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pickens | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 34 min |
| Apr 8, 6:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 32 min |
| Apr 8, 6:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 6:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 47 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.