Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 8, 1998Autauga County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 8, 1998, 6:26 PM CDT for Autauga County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 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 8, 1998, 6:26 PM CDT (23:26 UTC)
Expired: Apr 8, 1998, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Autauga County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:30 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 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

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 73 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: 880 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 161 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

439 
WFUS1 KBHM 082327 RRB
TORBHM
ALC001-090015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
626 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...AUTAUGA COUNTY...

AT 625 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR
AUTAUGAVILLE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.  IT WILL BE NEAR PRATTVILLE
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, 6:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	48 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, 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.