Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 53, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 7, 1999Elmore County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1999, 1:39 PM CDT for Elmore County, Alabama. It was in force for 36 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: May 7, 1999, 1:39 PM CDT (18:39 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1999, 2:15 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Elmore County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:42 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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 88 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: 1200 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 73 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 203 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 071839 RRA
TORBHM
ALC051-071915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
139 PM CDT FRI MAY 7 1999

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

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

* UNTIL 215 PM CDT.

* AT 138 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...
LIKELY PRODUCING A TORNADO...JUST NORTH OF WETUMPKA.  THE STORM WAS
MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL AFFECT ECLECTIC AREA.  THIS EXTENDS THE PREVIOUS
WARNING.

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, May 7, 10:09 AM CDT, 3 hours 30 minutes before

ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-080300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1009 AM CDT FRI MAY 7 1999

THE WEAK FRONT ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE WILL START TO
MOVE EASTWARD TODAY AND ALLOW MOST OF THE RAIN TO GO WITH IT. OVER THE
REST OF STATE THERE IS ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF A THUNDERSTORM TODAY
AND NO ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL WILL
NOT BE NECESSARY.  THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHWEST
ALABAMA... SEE PRODUCT BHMSPSMOB. FOR SOUTHEAST ALABAMA... LOOK AT
MIASPSTLH.  FOR MORE WEATHER INFORMATION VISIT OUR INTERNET SITE ON
THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT
HTTP://WWW.ACESAG.AUBURN.EDU/DEPARTMENT/NWS/

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 1:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Autauga, Elmore	32 min
May 7, 1:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	32 min
May 7, 1:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Coosa	32 min
May 7, 1:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	50 min
May 7, 2:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	32 min
May 7, 2:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	49 min
May 7, 2:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	35 min
May 7, 3:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	31 min
May 7, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	32 min
May 7, 3:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	32 min
May 7, 6:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lee	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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.