Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 8, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Feb 26, 1998, 3:10 PM CST for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 35 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
- Feb 26, 1998, 3:10 PM CST (21:10 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 26, 1998, 3:45 PM CST
- In force
- 35 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Tuscaloosa County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26, 3:15 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Tuscaloosa, AL | A tree fell on a house in Yellow Creek and damaged the porch. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26, 1:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 4 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 70 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
- 2334 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 158 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 287 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
279 WFUS1 KBHM 262111 RRA TORBHM ALC125-262145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 310 PM CST THU FEB 26 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 345 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...TUSCALOOSA COUNTY... AT 309 PM CST... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO NEAR JUST EAST OF LAKE TUSCALOOSA. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 TO 40 MPH...AND WILL AFFECT AREAS IN EASTERN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY BETWEEN BANKHEAD LAKE AND HOLT. <<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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 26, 1:11 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens, Sumter | 49 min |
| Feb 26, 2:02 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene, Pickens, Sumter | 48 min |
| Feb 26, 2:32 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale, Tuscaloosa | 58 min |
| Feb 26, 3:22 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 93 min |
| Feb 26, 3:31 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 59 min |
| Feb 26, 3:42 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 48 min |
| Feb 26, 3:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 40 min |
| Feb 26, 4:19 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb | 31 min |
| Feb 26, 4:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 45 min |
| Feb 26, 4:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 34 min |
| Feb 26, 4:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb, Chilton | 49 min |
| Feb 26, 5:02 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 48 min |
| Feb 26, 5:07 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 63 min |
| Feb 26, 5:13 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 47 min |
| Feb 26, 5:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 49 min |
| Feb 26, 5:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 44 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.