Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 29, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 8, 1998, 7:15 PM CDT for Coosa County, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 45 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, 7:15 PM CDT (00:15 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 8:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Coosa County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:14 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, 7:28 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Alexander City, AL | |
| Apr 8, 7:33 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Alexander City, AL | Dime size hail was reported at US 280 river bridge. |
| Apr 8, 7:37 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Dadeville, 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 77 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
- 2060 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 632 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 79 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 148 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 284 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 12.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 090015 RRA TORBHM ALC037-123-090100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 715 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...COOSA COUNTY... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...TALLAPOOSA COUNTY... AT 712 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO NORTH OF ECLECTIC MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. IT WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHEAST COOSA COUNTY AND INTO THE LAKE MARTIN AND ALEXANDER CITY AREAS. <<CALL TO ACTION>> DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO... LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STURDY STRUCTURE IS NEARBY... SEEK SAFETY IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 7:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 7:04 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Franklin | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 7:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 7:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 7:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 7:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 35 min |
| Apr 8, 7:33 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 7:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 7:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pickens | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 7:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 7:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 7:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 7:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 7:46 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 7:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 63 min |
| Apr 8, 7:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 64 min |
| Apr 8, 7:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 66 min |
| Apr 8, 7:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 8:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cleburne | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 8:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 63 min |
| Apr 8, 8:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay, Randolph | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 8:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 8:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 8:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Morgan | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 8:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 33 min |
| Apr 8, 8:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 8:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 63 min |
| Apr 8, 8:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 8:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Hale | 36 min |
| Apr 8, 8:54 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee, Etowah | 51 min |
| Apr 8, 8:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 9:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bibb | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 9:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 63 min |
| Apr 8, 9:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 9:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Morgan | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 9:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Talladega | 65 min |
| Apr 8, 9:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone, Madison | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 9:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 9:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 9:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 9:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 9:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 33 min |
| Apr 8, 10:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 10:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 46 min |
| Apr 8, 10:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 10:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 34 min |
| Apr 8, 10:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 31 min |
| Apr 8, 10:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 33 min |
| Apr 8, 10:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb, Perry | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 10:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 49 min |
| Apr 8, 10:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 45 min |
| Apr 8, 11:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Shelby | 62 min |
| Apr 8, 11:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 47 min |
| Apr 8, 11:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton, Shelby | 48 min |
| Apr 8, 11:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 50 min |
| Apr 8, 11:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 33 min |
| Apr 9, 12:07 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 48 min |
| Apr 9, 12:20 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 50 min |
| Apr 9, 12:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph, Tallapoosa | 45 min |
| Apr 9, 1:17 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| Apr 9, 3:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pike | 34 min |
| Apr 9, 3:31 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 49 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.