Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 69, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 18, 1998, 5:42 PM CDT for Cherokee County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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 18, 1998, 5:42 PM CDT (22:42 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 1998, 6:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cherokee County, AL
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 136 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1108 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 83 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 209 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
509 WFUS1 KBHM 182241 RRA TORBHM ALC019-182330- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 542 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CHEROKEE COUNTY... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA * UNTIL 630 PM CDT * AT 540 PM CDT... A TORNADO WAS DETECTED... 11 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SPRING GARDEN... BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR... MOVING NORTHEAST 30 MPH. * TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... SPRING GARDEN AROUND 600 PM CDT ... ROCK RUN AROUND 605 PM CDT ... BOMAR AROUND 610 PM CDT ... IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Apr 18, 12:54 PM CDT, 4 hours 48 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
1254 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1131 AM BIRMINGHAM AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO,
DIME SIZE HAIL IN THE
BIRMINGHAM JEFFERSON CIVIC
CENTER AREA.
1140 AM BIRMINGHAM AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO, IN
THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
AREA OF DOWNTOWN
BIRMINGHAM, DIME SIZE
HAIL.
1140 AM ROEBUCK PLAZA AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO,
DIME SIZE HAIL PARTIALLY
COVERING THE GROUND IN
ROEBUCK AREA
1142 AM BIRMINGHAM ARPT AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON DIME SIZE HAIL, REPORTED
NEAR THE BIRMINGHAM
AIRPORT, REPORTED BY HAM
RADIO OPERATORS.Local storm report, Apr 18, 12:54 PM CDT, 4 hours 48 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
1254 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1131 AM BIRMINGHAM AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO,
DIME SIZE HAIL IN THE
BIRMINGHAM JEFFERSON CIVIC
CENTER AREA.
1140 AM BIRMINGHAM AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO, IN
THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
AREA OF DOWNTOWN
BIRMINGHAM, DIME SIZE
HAIL.
1140 AM ROEBUCK PLAZA AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON REPORTED BY HAM RADIO,
DIME SIZE HAIL PARTIALLY
COVERING THE GROUND IN
ROEBUCK AREA
1142 AM BIRMINGHAM ARPT AL .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/98 JEFFERSON DIME SIZE HAIL, REPORTED
NEAR THE BIRMINGHAM
AIRPORT, REPORTED BY HAM
RADIO OPERATORS.The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 9:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pike | 34 min |
| Apr 17, 9:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 47 min |
| Apr 17, 11:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lowndes, Montgomery | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 1:38 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 9:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene, Sumter | 45 min |
| Apr 18, 9:47 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 33 min |
| Apr 18, 10:38 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 32 min |
| Apr 18, 10:58 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 12:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 45 min |
| Apr 18, 12:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 45 min |
| Apr 18, 5:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 32 min |
| Apr 18, 5:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 18 min |
| Apr 18, 5:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 6:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 6:15 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jackson | 4 hr |
| Apr 18, 6:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 49 min |
| Apr 18, 6:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jackson | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 6:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 19 min |
| Apr 18, 6:35 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount, Marshall | 4 hr |
| Apr 18, 6:48 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Perry | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 6:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 63 min |
| Apr 18, 6:53 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 6:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Etowah | 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.