Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 80, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 18, 1998, 7:30 PM CDT for Lowndes County, Alabama. It was in force for 50 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, 7:30 PM CDT (00:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 1998, 8:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lowndes County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:29 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 18, 5:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 115 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
- 782 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 83 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 229 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 393 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 13.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 190030 RRA TORBHM ALC085-190120- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 730 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... LOWNDES COUNTY... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA * UNTIL 820 PM CDT * AT 728 PM CDT... A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS DETECTED MOVING INTO THE SOUTHWESTERN PORTION OF LOWNDES COUNTY... 6 MILES SOUTH OF FARMERSVILLE... BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST 45 MPH. * TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... FARMERSVILLE AROUND 727 PM CDT ... BRAGGS AROUND 728 PM CDT ... FOSTORIA AROUND 730 PM CDT ... COLLIRENE AROUND 735 PM CDT ... LOWNDESBORO AROUND 750 PM CDT ... GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR! REMEMBER... A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. LARGE HAIL... DAMAGING WINDS... AND TORRENTIAL RAINFALL MAY ALSO OCCUR. BE READY TO SEEK A PLACE OF SAFETY IF A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE\ LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS AND DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDIER BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
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
Special weather statement, Apr 18, 7:20 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
ALZ023-032-039-190125- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 720 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 246 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN ALABAMA ...TUSCALOOSA... HALE... MARENGO
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 7:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 19 min |
| Apr 18, 7:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 33 min |
| Apr 18, 7:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 7:26 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 4 hr |
| Apr 18, 7:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Talladega | 64 min |
| Apr 18, 7:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 44 min |
| Apr 18, 7:39 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 31 min |
| Apr 18, 7:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 7:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 20 min |
| Apr 18, 7:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 8:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Talladega | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 9:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 19 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.