Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Mobile, AL
NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 7, 1998, 7:53 AM CST for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 52 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
- Jan 7, 1998, 7:53 AM CST (13:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 7, 1998, 8:45 AM CST
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Mobile, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Baldwin County, AL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:52 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 8:20 AM CST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Seminole, AL | Several trees were blown down along US Hwy 90 just west of Seminole. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 4:00 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 121 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
- 346 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 443 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 277 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 324 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
791 WFUS1 KMOB 071354 RRA TORMOB ALC003-071445- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 753 AM CST WED JAN 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 845 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA ...BALDWIN COUNTY AT 753 AM CST...MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR GULF SHORE WHICH WAS MOVING TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH...AND WILL PASS NEAR THE TOWNS TO FOLEY BY 8 AM...AND PASS NEAR SEMINOLE BY 815 AM. THIS IS AN UPGRADE TO THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ALEADY IN EFFECT FOR BALDWIN COUNTY. A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE EASTERN PORTION OF BALDWIN COUNTY THROUGH 830 AM. 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 POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 7, 4:55 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Mobile | 65 min |
| Jan 7, 5:50 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 55 min |
| Jan 7, 6:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Mobile | 60 min |
| Jan 7, 6:38 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Mobile, Washington | 3 hr |
| Jan 7, 7:10 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 20 min |
| Jan 7, 7:39 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 3 hr |
| Jan 7, 7:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Escambia | 63 min |
| Jan 7, 8:08 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Monroe | 67 min |
| Jan 7, 8:33 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Conecuh | 57 min |
| Jan 7, 9:01 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Wilcox | 59 min |
| Jan 7, 9:05 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Escambia | 60 min |
| Jan 7, 9:40 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Covington | 60 min |
| Jan 7, 9:45 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Mobile, Washington | 3 hr |
| Jan 7, 10:09 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Butler | 61 min |
| Jan 7, 10:38 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Escambia | 112 min |
| Jan 7, 10:43 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Covington | 62 min |
| Jan 7, 10:55 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 110 min |
| Jan 7, 4:41 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 5 hr |
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.