Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Tallahassee, FL
NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 8, 1998, 11:52 AM CDT for Coffee County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 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
- Apr 8, 1998, 11:52 AM CDT (16:52 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 8, 1998, 12:55 PM CDT
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tallahassee, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Coffee County, AL
The radar
The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:52 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 11:58 AM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Elba, AL | Dime sized hail reported by Coffee County EMA. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 10:30 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 4.9 hours before the alert went out and 114 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
- 1443 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 465 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 71 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 213 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.1
- Supercell composite
- 7.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTLH 081652 RRA TORTLH ALC031-081755- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL 1252 PM EDT WED APR 8 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1255 PM CDT (155 PM EDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN ALABAMA ...COFFEE COUNTY AT 1148 AM CDT... DOPPLER RADAR AT TALLAHASSEE INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR ELBA MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... NEW BROCKTON BY 1155 AM CDT ENTERPRISE BY 1200 PM CDT PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD GO TO A SAFE PLACE IMMEDIATELY.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tallahassee, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8, 7:04 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Houston | 31 min |
| Apr 8, 9:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Houston | 64 min |
| Apr 8, 10:23 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Coffee | 62 min |
| Apr 8, 11:03 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Dale | 62 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.