Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2008

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 168, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 11, 2008Randolph County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 11, 2008, 8:18 PM CDT for Randolph County, Alabama. It was in force for 26 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 11, 2008, 8:18 PM CDT (01:18 UTC)
Expired
Apr 11, 2008, 8:44 PM CDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Storm-based polygon

County Randolph County, AL

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:19 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 89 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 2008-04-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 82 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 2008-04-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 128 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
82 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1749 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 11, 3:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 11, 3:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
325 PM CDT FRI APR 11 2008

.DISCUSSION...

WE ARE CURRENTLY IN FULL SEVERE WEATHER MODE HERE AT THE OFFICE.
STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME
OF THESE COULD BECOME SEVERE. SEE BHMHWOBMX FOR THE LATEST THREAT
ASSESSMENT. UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS ARE EXPECTED TO SLOWLY MOVE
NORTH AND THUS DECREASING THE THREAT AS WE HEAD INTO THE
NIGHT...MAINLY AFTER 8 PM. HAVING SAID THAT...STAY TUNED TO NOAA
WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL TV AFFILIATES FOR THE LATEST
CRITICAL...POTENTIALLY LIFE SAVING INFORMATION.

A BIG CHANGE IN TEMPERATURE IS EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND AND EARLY
NEXT WEEK. AFTER THESE WARM SPRING DAYS...WE WILL BRIEFLY GO BACK
TO WINTER. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW EXTREME COLD AIR ALOFT
ASSOCIATED WITH A UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM. THINGS ARE STILL LOOKING
PRETTY INTERESTING FOR SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY MORNING. A SLUG OF
MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH A TROF WILL MOVE ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA
SUNDAY NIGHT. THERE COULD BE ENOUGH MOISTURE THAT WE COULD SQUEEZE
OUT SOME FLURRIES OR LIGHT SNOW. NOTHING SIGNIFICANT BY ANY MEANS
THOUGH. BUT...WE WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE POTENTIAL CLOSELY
OVER THE NEXT FEW PACKAGES.

NEXT WEEK LOOKS TO BE PRETTY DRY WITH HIGH PRESSURE IN PLACE.
TEMPERATURES WILL SLOWLY RETURN TO NORMAL BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

10/ARM

&&

.AVIATION...18Z TAF DISCUSSION.

LINE OF STORMS COMING IN FROM THE WEST WILL AFFECT ALL TAF SITES
THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. BASED THE TIMING OF THESE STORMS
ON CURRENT RADAR TREND. THE ONLY FLIGHT PROBLEMS WILL OCCUR DURING A
THUNDERSTORM. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO LAST LATE INTO THE
EVENING HOURS. MUCH IMPROVED CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TOMORROW.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
GADSDEN     54  64  36  55  33 /  70  10  10  20  20
ANNISTON    55  68  36  54  33 /  80  10  10  20  20
BIRMINGHAM  53  66  40  55  35 /  70  10  10  20  20
TUSCALOOSA  54  69  40  57  39 /  50  10  10  10  20
CALERA      56  68  41  57  37 /  70  10  10  10  20
AUBURN      58  67  42  59  36 /  70  30  10  10  20
MONTGOMERY  60  70  43  63  39 /  80  20  10  10  10
TROY        61  71  40  63  34 /  70  50  10  10  10

&&

.BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL AREAS UNTIL 6 PM.

&&

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 11, 5:52 PM CDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Apr 11, 6:12 PM CDT, 2 hours 6 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Apr 11, 6:18 PM CDT, 2 hours before
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<body>
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      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
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Local storm report, Apr 11, 6:19 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
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</head>
<body>
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    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
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Local storm report, Apr 11, 8:05 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
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<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
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      <p class="small" id="detail">
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Special weather statement, Apr 11, 8:10 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
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  <title>Service Notice</title>
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<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
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</body>
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 11, 7:10 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXChilton, Coosa35 min
Apr 11, 7:15 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXClay, Randolph45 min
Apr 11, 10:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Lowndes27 min
Apr 11, 10:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore, Montgomery41 min
Apr 12, 1:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton, Coosa31 min
Apr 12, 1:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton, Coosa, Shelby, Talladega35 min
Apr 12, 1:57 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega11 min
Apr 12, 2:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay, Cleburne, Talladega26 min
Apr 12, 2:32 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay, Coosa, Talladega16 min
Apr 12, 5:00 AM CDTFreeze WatchBMXBlount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah and 12 more47 hr
Apr 12, 5:00 AM CDTFreeze WatchBMXAutauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun and 33 more56 hr
Apr 12, 5:00 AM CDTLake Wind AdvisoryBMXBibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton and 22 more13 hr
Apr 12, 6:57 PM CDTLake Wind AdvisoryBMXAutauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun and 33 more25 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 2008Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2008

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.