Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 131, NWS Mobile, AL

May 26, 1999Covington County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 26, 1999, 2:14 PM CDT for Covington County, Alabama. It was in force for 61 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: May 26, 1999, 2:14 PM CDT (19:14 UTC)
Expired: May 26, 1999, 3:15 PM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Covington County, AL

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:13 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
May 26, 2:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Florala, AL	High storm winds damaged the skirting under some mobile homes in the community.

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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 705 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 949 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 26, 2:50 AM CDT, 11 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 26, 2:50 AM CDT, 11 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
250 AM CDT WED MAY 26 1999

MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH WEAK FRONTAL BNDRY CURRENTLY STRETCHED
ACROSS CNTRL MS-AL-GA SLOWLY SAGGING SWD TOWARD THE COAST THIS
AFTN...THEN PUSHING OFF THE COAST SOMETIME EARLY-MID THU MRNG.
BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN HERE APPEARS TO BE FROM LATE THIS MRNG THRU
EARLY THU MRNG AS THE FRONT SAGS INTO A MOIST AND UNSTABLE FCST AREA.
THIS COUPLED WITH A WEAK UPPER RIGHT JET ENTRANCE REGION AND A SERIES
OF WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES IN THE DEVELOPING NW FLOW ALOFT SHUD
RESULT IN SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS ACROSS THE AREA BY EARLY
AFTN WITH THE THREAT CONTINUING THRU MUCH OF TONIGHT.  WEAK SHEAR...
RELATIVELY WARM TEMPS ALOFT AND DEEP MOISTURE THRU THE MID LEVELS
WILL HINDER THE CHANCE FOR SEVERE WX AND LIKELY FAVOR BRIEF PERIODS
OF HEAVY RAIN.  AVN AND NGM ARE SLIGHTLY FASTER AND PUSH THE FRONT
FURTHER OFF SHORE THAN THE ETA WHO STALLS THE FRONT JUST OFF THE
COAST ON THU. EITHER WAY...EACH MODEL SHOWS THE SURFACE RIDGE
BUILDING IN OVER THE AREA EARLY THU WITH DRIER MORE STABLE AIR
ADVECTING IN ABOARD A DEEP NRLY FLOW BEHIND THE FRONT...DECREASING
CHANCES FOR RAIN BY EARLY THU AFTN.  AVN 500MB SHOWS A LINGERING
SHORT WAVE STILL OVER OK BY 72HRS...BUT IT SHUD WEAKEN AND RIDE
MAINLY NRTH WITH LITTLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH HERE IF THE MODELS
VERIFY AND PUSH THE FRONT WELL OFF SHORE.  WILL LEAN TOWARD THE
HIGHER AVN POPS FOR TODAY AND GO SLIGHTLY ABOVE GUIDENCE POPS FOR
TONIGHT...WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE POPS REASONABLE FOR THU MRNG. LEANING
TOWARD SLIGHTLY COOLER AVN TMPS THRU PERIOD.

COASTAL WATERS...SW WINDS 10-15KTS TODAY THEN BECOMING MORE WEST
TONIGHT AND FINALLY SHIFTING NW 10-15KTS EARLY THU MORNG TOWARD
THE COAST.  SEAS WILL RUN 3FT THRU TONIGHT...THEN DIMINISH SLIGHTLY
ON THU IN WAKE OF THE FRONT.

MOB 86/66/84/59 5420  PNS 85/67/84/61 5420
DTS 85/67/84/61 5420  GZH 87/62/85/56 5410 39

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 12:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	40 min
May 26, 1:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	76 min
May 26, 1:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	40 min
May 26, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington, Escambia	45 min
May 26, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1999 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.