Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 43, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 8, 1998, 8:49 PM CDT for St. Clair County, Alabama. It was in force for 46 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
- Apr 8, 1998, 8:49 PM CDT (01:49 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 9:35 PM CDT
- In force
- 46 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County St. Clair County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:49 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, 8:56 PM CDT | Tornado F2 | Moody, AL | The tornado began 2.3 miles north-northeast of Moody and just west of US 411. The tornado crossed US 411 where a large church and associated buildings, some recently constructed were destroyed. The tornado traveled on an east-northeast track moving through r |
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, 7:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 74 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.
310 WFUS1 KBHM 090150 RRB TORBHM ALC115-090235- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 849 PM CDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 935 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...ST. CLAIR COUNTY... AT 847 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR AND STORM SPOTTERS HAVE REPORTED TORNADOES MOVING FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY INTO ST. CLAIR COUNTY. THE STORM WILL MOVING INTO ST. CLAIR COUNTY IN THE VICINITY OF MARGARET AND ODENVILLE IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE COUNTY. THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TORNADOES AS THIS THUNDERSTORM MOVED THROUGH PORTIONS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY INCLUDING DAMAGE AND POSSIBLE INJURIES. <<CALL TO ACTION>> THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT. &
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, 7:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa, Tallapoosa | 45 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 | 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.