Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 128, NWS Mobile, AL

May 3, 1998Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1998, 2:45 PM CDT for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 75 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: May 3, 1998, 2:45 PM CDT (19:45 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 4:00 PM CDT
In force: 75 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 19:48 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, 2:55 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 3, 2:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 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 031944 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC023-032100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
245 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 400 PM CDT

* AT 244 PM CDT... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES WEST OF
  BUTLER... AS INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR... MOVING EAST 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR-
  WEST BUTLER AT 250 PM CDT

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR
PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOtR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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 PM CDT, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 3, 2:30 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

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

AT 19Z/SFC CDFNT E TX-N LA-CNTRL MS-CNTRL IN AND MOVG SLOLY SWD IN
RESPONSE TO S/WAV ROTG THRU LWR MS VLY. LOCAL AMS QUITE UNSTBL WITH
GOES-8 CAPEs 2500-3000 J/KG AND CONV DEEP-ROOTED IN PBL. XPCT SCT SVR
TSTMS DVLPG OVR SRN MS TO FORM INTO MCS AND PROP SE TO COAST THRU
ERLY EVE. POSBL COLLISION ALSO ANTCPTD W/SEA-BREEZE LATER. SVR WX
COMP INDCTS DEEP LYR VWS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT ISOLD SUPERCELLS AS
WELL...BUT BLV BOWS/LRG HAIL TO BE PRIMARY THREAT.

THRU 00Z/TUE...MEAN L/WAV TRF PSTN TO SHIFT E A BIT AS NEXT SGNFNT
UPR VORTEX ON USCAN BORDER SET TO MOV SEWD INTO OHVLY. MID TROP TEMPS
SHUD GRDLY WARM BUT IT WL TAKE SOME TIME. FCST UPR HGTS FALL (20M)
SHUD AID CDFNT SRLY PUSH CLOSER TO COAST OVRNITE...BUT BLV FNT WL BE
SO SHALLOW BY ERLY MON THAT IT WL MERELY REFLECT AS A WEAK PRES TRF.
BLV ETA IS TOO AGRESSIVE W/DRYING AND CYCLGNS OVR N TX BY 48 HR WL
ALREADY CAUSE A NWD BUCKLING OF FNTL BNDRY IN BEG OF RTRN FLO
(FURTHER SLOWING CDFNT). WL REFLECT THIS OCCURENCE IN WARMER MIN TEMP
FCST. CHC POPs NEEDED MONDAY AS SEA-BREEZE CRCLN WL BECOME RE-
ESTABLISHED ALONG WITH REMNANT LOLVL MSTR. MONDAY NITE SHUD BE SLGTLY
COOLER ON MIN TEMPS WITH RDTN FOG.

AL/NW FL COASTAL WATERS...LOLVL RDG TO REMAIN AFFIXED OVR E GLF.
EXPECT TSTM OTFLW BNDRY TO SHIFT SFC WINDS TO NW FOR BRIEF PD TNT AS
LINE OF STG TSTSMS MOV OFF AL/FL CST DURG EVE. CDFNT WL STALL ALONG
CST BY MON AFTERNOON THRU ERLY TUE BEFORE DIMINISHING. SW FLOW 10 TO
15 KT WL PREDOMINATE OTRW (2-3 FEET SEAS).

MOB 61/81/61 6322  PNS 64/81/63 6322
DTS 67/76/66 6322  EVR 58/82/55 7322 23

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, 1:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	56 min
May 3, 2:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	77 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.