Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 13, 1999Barbour County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 13, 1999, 9:42 PM CST for Barbour County, Alabama. It was in force for 33 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
Mar 13, 1999, 9:42 PM CST (03:42 UTC)
Expired
Mar 13, 1999, 10:15 PM CST
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Barbour County, AL

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:43 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 13, 9:50 PM CSTThunderstorm Wind 55Blue Spgs, ALNumerous trees were knocked down around Blue Springs.

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 nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 187 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1999-03-14Temperature 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1999-03-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 537 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
2123 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
537 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
845 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.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 140345 COR
TORBHM
ALC005-140415-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
942 PM CST SAT MAR 13 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED...A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BARBOUR COUNTY... IN SOUTHEASTERN ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 1015 PM CST.

* AT 939 PM CST... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO...NEAR ARITON
MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.  THIS STORM WILL MAINLY AFFECT
SOUTHERN BARBOUR COUNTY.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...DOSTER...BLUE SPRINGS AND TEXASVILLE.

THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED EARLIER.

GO TO THE BASEMENT...OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 13, 9:25 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBarbour, Pike50 min
Mar 13, 9:51 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMontgomery34 min
Mar 13, 10:14 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXBarbour31 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.