Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 15, 1999Dallas County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1999, 2:26 AM CDT for Dallas County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 min. 2 reports 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 15, 1999, 2:26 AM CDT (07:26 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 1999, 3:15 AM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Dallas County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 15, 2:44 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Selma, AL	A few large trees were blown over and some large limbs blown down in downtown Selma.
Apr 15, 3:17 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Minter, AL	Several trees were knocked down in southern Dallas County near Minter.

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 15, 12:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2269 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 264 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 501 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 150726 RRA
TORBHM
ALC047-150815-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
226 AM CDT THU APR 15 1999

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DALLAS COUNTY... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 315 AM CDT.

* AT 224 AM CDT... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO...ACROSS THE
WESTERN SECTIONS OF DALLAS COUNTY.  THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH THE
DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

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

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

Special weather statement, Apr 15, 1:23 AM CDT, 1 hour 3 minutes before

ALZ001>003-150640-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
123 AM CDT THU APR 15 1999

THE TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN ALABAMA

   ...LAUDERDALE... COLBERT... FRANKLIN

THE STRONGER STORMS HAVE MOVED TO THE EAST AND SOUTH OF THE AREA.
ONLY SOME MODERATE RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE OVER THESE COUNTIES FOR THE
NEXT FEW HOURS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 12:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	48 min
Apr 15, 12:19 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	51 min
Apr 15, 12:54 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale	51 min
Apr 15, 1:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	34 min
Apr 15, 1:36 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marengo	49 min
Apr 15, 2:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	35 min
Apr 15, 3:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga	51 min
Apr 15, 3:14 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	31 min
Apr 15, 3:20 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lowndes	60 min
Apr 15, 3:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	34 min
Apr 15, 3:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	47 min
Apr 15, 3:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	47 min
Apr 15, 4:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock, Pike	62 min
Apr 15, 5:48 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Bullock, Pike	32 min
Apr 15, 5:55 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	60 min
Apr 15, 6:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	35 min
Apr 15, 6:16 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	34 min
Apr 15, 7:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour	49 min
Apr 15, 7:25 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	35 min
Apr 15, 8:09 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jackson	31 min
Apr 15, 11:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	33 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.