Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 22, 1999Limestone County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jan 22, 1999, 9:05 PM CST for Limestone County, Alabama. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 22, 1999, 9:05 PM CST (03:05 UTC)
Expired: Jan 23, 1999, 1:10 AM CST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Limestone County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:06 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 182 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: 508 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 456 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 644 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 12.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 230307
FFWBHM
ALC083-230710-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
905 PM CST FRI JAN 22 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  LIMESTONE COUNTY... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 110 AM CST


* BANDS OF THUNDERSTORMS HAVE PRODUCED 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN OVER
  PARTS OF NORTHWEST ALABAMA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  RADARS
  INDICATED HEAVY RAINS WILL CONTINUE TO ADVANCE SLOWLY EASTWARD
  ACROSS LIMESTONE COUNTY TONIGHT.  AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 4 INCHES OF
  RAIN WILL FALL OVER PARTS OF LIMESTONE COUNTY...WHICH WILL FLOOD LOW-
  LYING AREAS.

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!
"

What forecasters said that day

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 22, 5:50 PM CST, 3 hours 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
550 PM CST FRI JAN 22 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0530 PM                              AL   TORNADO
01/22/99   WINSTON                        TOUCHDOWN NEAR MOUNT
                                          CARMEL COMMUNITY...ABOUT 4
                                          MILE WNW DOUBLE SPRINGS.
                                          CHURCH ROOF BLOWN OFF.
                                          TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          DOWN. MOBILE HOME BLOWN
                                          OVER.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 22, 6:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene, Sumter	50 min
Jan 22, 6:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson	35 min
Jan 22, 6:27 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount	63 min
Jan 22, 6:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	64 min
Jan 22, 6:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	64 min
Jan 22, 7:08 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence	6 hr
Jan 22, 7:08 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Pickens	6 hr
Jan 22, 7:08 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Franklin, Winston	6 hr
Jan 22, 7:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marshall	65 min
Jan 22, 7:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin, Marion	32 min
Jan 22, 8:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Colbert	34 min
Jan 22, 8:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lauderdale	35 min
Jan 22, 8:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone	46 min
Jan 22, 10:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	47 min
Jan 22, 10:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	34 min
Jan 22, 10:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	35 min
Jan 22, 11:06 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Madison, Morgan	4 hr
Jan 22, 11:45 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	4 hr
Jan 23, 1:38 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone	117 min
Jan 23, 1:38 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Winston	117 min
Jan 23, 2:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore, Montgomery	35 min
Jan 23, 3:09 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	31 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 1999 Every flash flood warning in 1999

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.