Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 40, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1999, 3:20 AM CDT for Lowndes County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 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
- Apr 15, 1999, 3:20 AM CDT (08:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 15, 1999, 4:20 AM CDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lowndes County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:21 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.
| 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, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 115 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 150820 RRA TORBHM ALC085-150920- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 320 AM CDT THU APR 15 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED...A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... LOWNDES COUNTY... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA... * UNTIL 420 AM CDT. * AT 317 AM CDT... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO...ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST DALLAS COUNTY ENTERING THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF LOWNDES COUNTY. THE SEVERE THUNDEzRSTORM 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 57 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, 2:26 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 49 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, 3:41 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, 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.