Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 27, NWS Mobile, AL

May 3, 1998Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at May 3, 1998, 8:52 PM CDT for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 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, 8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 68 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 01:53 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, 9:11 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Bay Minette, AL	Dime size hail was reported in the community.

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, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 192 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: 1568 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -55 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1328 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 040152 RRA
TORMOB
ALC003-040300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
852 PM CDT SUN MAY 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BALDWIN COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 1000 PM CDT

* AT 851 PM CDT... A TORNADO WAS LOCATED 5 MILES SOUTH OF BAY MINETTE
  OR 3 MILES EAST OF WHITEHOUSE FORKS... AS INDICATED BY DOPPLER
  RADAR... MOVING EAST 30 MPH.

* THE PATH OF THE TORNADO IS NOT EXPECTED TO PASS NEAR DENSELY
  POPULATED AREAS.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR
CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Clarke	76 min
May 3, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	61 min
May 3, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	77 min
May 3, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	79 min
May 3, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	78 min
May 3, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Conecuh	75 min
May 3, 8:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	78 min
May 3, 8:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Butler, Covington	72 min
May 3, 9:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	73 min
May 3, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh	74 min
May 3, 10:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	51 min
May 3, 11:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	60 min
May 4, 12:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington, Escambia	75 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.