Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 22, 1999Morgan County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 22, 1999, 4:58 PM CST for Morgan County, Alabama. It was in force for 47 min. 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, 4:58 PM CST (22:58 UTC)
Expired
Jan 22, 1999, 5:45 PM CST
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Morgan County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:57 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jan 22, 12:45 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 142 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1999-01-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1999-01-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 239 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
605 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
294 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KBHM 222259 RRA
TORBHM
ALC103-222345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
458 PM CST FRI JAN 22 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MORGAN COUNTY... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 545 PM CST

* AT 453 PM CST... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING A LIKELY TORNADO WAS
DETECTED...BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR OVER WESTERN
MORGAN COUNTY...BETWEEN DECATUR AND DANVILLE.

* THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 40 MPH...AND WILL AFFECT
THE DECATUR AREA BETWEEN 500 PM AND 530 PM.

IF YOU ARE IN A CAR...GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING AS A LAST
RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, 2:39 PM CST, 2 hours 19 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
339 PM CDT FRI JAN 22 1999

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

0330 PM                              AL   .88 INCH HAIL
01/22/99   PICKENS                        NICKEL SIZED HAIL IN
                                          MCSHAN COMMUNITY...5 MILES
                                          SE OF ETHELSVILLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 22, 1:12 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXColbert, Lauderdale48 min
Jan 22, 2:04 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLamar, Pickens61 min
Jan 22, 2:37 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarion63 min
Jan 22, 2:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXFayette60 min
Jan 22, 2:51 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXFayette, Lamar49 min
Jan 22, 2:55 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXFranklin, Marion65 min
Jan 22, 3:11 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXSumter49 min
Jan 22, 3:15 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXWalker50 min
Jan 22, 3:21 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXColbert49 min
Jan 22, 3:26 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLauderdale49 min
Jan 22, 3:29 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPickens61 min
Jan 22, 3:32 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXWinston48 min
Jan 22, 4:06 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXPickens49 min
Jan 22, 4:06 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLawrence64 min
Jan 22, 4:14 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXWinston3 hr
Jan 22, 4:15 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXWinston45 min
Jan 22, 4:17 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXMorgan48 min
Jan 22, 4:24 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXFayette66 min
Jan 22, 4:28 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLimestone47 min
Jan 22, 4:49 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXMarion, Walker36 min
Jan 22, 4:51 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXWinston49 min
Jan 22, 5:03 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLimestone32 min
Jan 22, 5:03 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXMadison62 min
Jan 22, 5:05 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa65 min
Jan 22, 5:20 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXTuscaloosa35 min
Jan 22, 5:23 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLawrence47 min
Jan 22, 5:23 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXJefferson62 min
Jan 22, 5:27 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXColbert, Lauderdale48 min
Jan 22, 5:55 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXLimestone, Morgan65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes 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.