Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 43, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1999, 6:16 AM CDT for Russell County, Alabama. It was in force for 34 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, 6:16 AM CDT (11:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 15, 1999, 6:50 AM CDT
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Russell County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:16 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 15, 6:30 AM CDT | Hail 1 | Cottonton, AL | |
| Apr 15, 6:30 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Cottonton, AL |
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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 136 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
- 2381 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 173 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 463 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS1 KBHM 151117 RRA TORBHM ALC113-151150- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 616 AM CDT THU APR 15 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED...A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN RUSSELL COUNTY... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA... * UNTIL 650 AM CDT. * AT 614 AM CDT... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO BETWEEN HOOKS AND GLENVILLE IN SOUTHERN RUSSELL COUNTY MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 30 TO 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, 4 hours 53 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, 3:20 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.