Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2008
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 218, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 2008, 12:01 PM CDT for Marengo County, Alabama. It was in force for 44 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 15, 2008, 12:01 PM CDT (17:01 UTC)
- Expired
- May 15, 2008, 12:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
County Marengo County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:04 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, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 140 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
- 203 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 571 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 64 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 44 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 May 15, 11:32 AM CDT, 29 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 15, 11:32 AM CDT, 29 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1132 AM CDT THU MAY 15 2008 .UPDATE... DID A QUICK UPDATE TO LOWER AFTERNOON TEMPS AND RAISE POPS IN SE. AM NOTING BACK EDGE OF RAIN IN EASTERN MS...CLICKING ALONG AT A PRETTY GOOD PACE. BACK EDGE WILL BE WORKING INTO THE WEST DURING EARLY AFTERNOON. CONCERNED ABOUT POSSIBLE FORMATION OF A GRAVITY WAVE ON THE BACK EDGE. ALSO...WATCHING STORMS TO THE SOUTH AS THEY MOVE UP. SOME CONCERN THEY MAY MOVE INTO THE SOUTHERN TIER. JONES/90 && .AVIATION...12Z TAF DISCUSSION. MESSY NEXT 24 HOURS NOW UNDERWAY AT BHM/EET/TCL...AND WILL SPREAD TO REMAINDER OF TAF SITES BY 15Z. CONFIDENT THE NEXT 24 HOURS WILL BE TOUGH...NOT THAT CONFIDENT ON TIMING OF WORST CONDITIONS. EXPECT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING...WITH PERHAPS A MORE INTENSE PERIOD OF ACTIVITY 1PM TO 7PM WITH THE HEATING OF THE DAY. AFTER THE FIRST CLUSTER MOVES OUT...SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHETHER THERE WILL BE MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...OR WHETHER THERE WILL BE LOW CEILINGS. EITHER WAY...EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR CONDITIONS AND AT LEAST TEMPORARY IFR CONDITIONS THROUGH TOMORROW MORNING...WITH LOW CEILINGS AND LOW VISIBILITY IN RAIN AND/OR MIST. JD/81 && .BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 81/88/10
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 10:39 AM CDT | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Greene, Hale, Marengo, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa | 3 hr |
| May 15, 11:07 AM CDT | Areal Flood Advisory | BMX | Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Dallas, Jefferson, Perry and 1 more | 3 hr |
| May 15, 12:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pike | 62 min |
| May 15, 2:54 PM CDT | River Flood Warning | BMX | Sumter | 19 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.