Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 126, NWS Mobile, AL

May 3, 1998Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1998, 1:49 PM CDT for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 56 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: May 3, 1998, 1:49 PM CDT (18:49 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 2:45 PM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Choctaw County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:49 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
May 3, 2:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Pennington, AL	Dime size hail fell from Butler to Pennington.
May 3, 2:35 PM CDT	Hail 1	Butler, AL	Quarter size hail fell in the community.
May 3, 2:55 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Butler, AL	Dime size hail was reported in Butler.

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 nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 174 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -136 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1449 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 270 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 266 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 031849 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC023-031945-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
149 PM CDT SUN MAY 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CHOCTAW COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 245 PM CDT

* AT 147 PM CDT... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 16 MILES WEST OF
  PENNINGTON OR 9 MILES WEST OF JACHIN... AS INDICATED BY DOPPLER
  RADAR... MtOVING EAST 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR-
  CHOCTAW CITY AT 155 PM CDT
  PENNINGTON AT 200 PM CDT

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 3, 2:30 AM CDT, 11 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 3, 2:30 AM CDT, 11 hours 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
230 AM CDT SUN MAY 3 1998

LATEST UPSTREAM RAOBS IN VCNTY OF FNTL BNDRY MOVG THRU CENTRAL AR AT
PRESENT...SHOWS A GREAT DEAL OF COASTAL INSTABILITY WITH LIS
-9...CAPES NEAR 2500 J/KG.  ALTHO CAP STRENGTHS 3/5C AT 00Z...CURRENT
SAT LOOPS INDICATE COOLING CLD TOPS AND TSTM GROWTH EXPANDING OVR LA
AS MID LVL VORT LOBE INTERACTS WITH OUTFLOW BNDRYS. XPCT THIS CNVTV
ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE SPILLING SEWRD INTO CWA CLOSE TO SUNRISE AND ON
THRU THE MORNING. AT THIS TIME WITH FVRBL WET BULB ZEROS 8500/9000 FT
AGL AND THT-E DECR WITH HEIGHT...WUD EXPECT MAIN THREAT FM STORMS TO
BE HAIL AND/OR DAMAGING WINDS TDY. VIL OF THE DAY RATHER LOW...NEAR
35. FNTL BNDRY MAKES SLOW PROGRESS TO THE E/SE TDY BEFORE STALLING
NEAR THE COAST TONIGHT AND MON WITH BEST INSTABILITY GRADIENT ALG
COAST AND OFFSHORE...THUS WL LEAN TO A LKLY POP THRU TONIGHT ALG
COASTAL SXNS. WITH ANOTHER MID LVL VORT LOBE PASSAGE ON MON WL KEEP A
CHC OF PCPN IN FCST AS FNT LINGERS NEARBY. TMPS ALSO A TREMENDOUS
CHALLENGE...FEEL WITH CLDS AND RAIN IN AREA TDY READINGS WILL BE MUCH
COOLER THAN ADVERTISED BY GUIDANCE. NOT MUCH DRYING SO LTL CHG IN
OVERNIGHT LOWS.

OVR COASTAL WATERS...LATEST BOUY DATA SHOWS SW WINDS 10/15 KTS AND
SEAS NEAR 2 FT. AS FNT STALLS ACRS AREA TONIGHT...WINDS WILL VARY FM
A SW TO NW DIRECTION ARND 15KT AND OCCASIONALLY GUSTY DEPENDING ON
HOW FAR S THE FNT MAKES IT. WIND...WAVES AND SEAS HIGHER NEAR TSTMS.

MOB 76/60/81/58 6632  PNS 77/60/79/61 6632
DTS 77/64/76/63 6632  EVR 78/59/82/55 6132 10

The office that day

Everything else NWS Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	55 min
May 3, 7:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Wilcox	62 min
May 3, 8:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	63 min
May 3, 2:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	77 min
May 3, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	75 min
May 3, 2:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	97 min
May 3, 3:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Wilcox	65 min
May 3, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	58 min
May 3, 4:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	47 min
May 3, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	59 min
May 3, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington	37 min
May 3, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	68 min
May 3, 6:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	53 min
May 3, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	69 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.