Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 26, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 22, 1999Blount County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 22, 1999, 6:27 PM CST for Blount 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: Jan 22, 1999, 6:27 PM CST (00:27 UTC)
Expired: Jan 22, 1999, 7:30 PM CST
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Blount County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jan 22, 7:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Oneonta, AL	A few homes were damaged and trees downed on Rock Springs Road near Hayden.

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 22, 12:45 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 91 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.

999 
WFUS1 KBHM 230029 RRA
TORBHM
ALC009-230130-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 730 PM CST

* AT 625 PM CST... A TORNADO WAS DETECTED...BY NATIONAL WEATHER
  SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR...MOVING NORTHEAST OUT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY INTO
SOUTHWESTERN BLOUNT COUNTY.


* TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...TRAFFORD...HAYDEN...NECTOR...AND BLOUNTSVILLE
AS IT MOVES THROUGH BLOUNT COUNTY.

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM
AWAY FROM WINDOWS.


&

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, 3 hours 48 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

Local storm report, Jan 22, 5:50 PM CST, 37 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, 6:46 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, 9:05 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Limestone	4 hr
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

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.