Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2000
Tornado Warning 144, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Dec 16, 2000, 5:11 PM CST for Shelby County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 16, 2000, 5:11 PM CST (23:11 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 16, 2000, 6:00 PM CST
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Shelby County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 11 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 16, 5:16 PM CST | Hail 0.88 | Pelham, AL | Nickel size hail was reported near SR 119. |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 16, 4:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 10 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
- 48 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -269 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 466 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 531 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 563 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS54 KBMX 162312 TORBHM ALC117-170000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 511 PM CST SAT DEC 16 2000 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SHELBY COUNTY IN CENTRAL ALABAMA * UNTIL 600 PM CST * AT 509 PM CST...THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO OVER ALABASTER... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH. * LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...PELHAM... MONTEVALLO...MEADOWBROOK...LAKE PURDY...INVERNESS...HELENA...CHELSEA AND ALABASTER. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING TORNADO. EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES...GO TO A STURDY BUILDING. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CST SATURDAY EVENING FOR NORTHEASTERN ALABAMA. A TORNADO WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CST SATURDAY EVENING FOR ALABAMA. A TORNADO WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN7 EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CST SATURDAY EVENING FOR SOUTHEASTERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHWESTERN GEORGIA. LAT...LON 3323 8701 3310 8685 3334 8652 3344 8667
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 16, 1:21 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 29 min |
| Dec 16, 1:48 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 27 min |
| Dec 16, 2:03 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 2:30 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 45 min |
| Dec 16, 3:07 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 38 min |
| Dec 16, 3:22 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 23 min |
| Dec 16, 11:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale | 45 min |
| Dec 16, 11:17 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 28 min |
| Dec 16, 11:28 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 47 min |
| Dec 16, 11:48 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Sumter | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 11:49 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Franklin | 26 min |
| Dec 16, 11:54 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 51 min |
| Dec 16, 12:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 29 min |
| Dec 16, 12:14 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 31 min |
| Dec 16, 12:17 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Greene | 43 min |
| Dec 16, 12:20 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 25 min |
| Dec 16, 12:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 35 min |
| Dec 16, 12:26 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 49 min |
| Dec 16, 12:28 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Limestone | 32 min |
| Dec 16, 12:40 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 50 min |
| Dec 16, 12:58 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Perry | 47 min |
| Dec 16, 1:14 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone, Madison, Morgan | 46 min |
| Dec 16, 1:17 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 58 min |
| Dec 16, 1:24 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 36 min |
| Dec 16, 1:33 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 1:57 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 48 min |
| Dec 16, 1:59 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 46 min |
| Dec 16, 2:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 29 min |
| Dec 16, 2:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 36 min |
| Dec 16, 2:20 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Etowah | 40 min |
| Dec 16, 2:26 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 34 min |
| Dec 16, 2:31 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert, Franklin | 44 min |
| Dec 16, 2:33 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 27 min |
| Dec 16, 2:50 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 40 min |
| Dec 16, 2:51 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 24 min |
| Dec 16, 2:53 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale, Perry | 37 min |
| Dec 16, 2:57 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 33 min |
| Dec 16, 3:02 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 13 min |
| Dec 16, 3:10 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb | 35 min |
| Dec 16, 3:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 29 min |
| Dec 16, 3:24 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cleburne | 36 min |
| Dec 16, 3:26 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan | 34 min |
| Dec 16, 3:37 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette, Walker | 23 min |
| Dec 16, 3:37 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 23 min |
| Dec 16, 3:41 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 49 min |
| Dec 16, 3:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman, Morgan | 44 min |
| Dec 16, 3:52 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 38 min |
| Dec 16, 4:06 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Morgan | 24 min |
| Dec 16, 4:23 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Talladega | 37 min |
| Dec 16, 4:24 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 36 min |
| Dec 16, 4:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 20 min |
| Dec 16, 4:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 45 min |
| Dec 16, 4:33 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 4:34 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 41 min |
| Dec 16, 4:41 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 49 min |
| Dec 16, 4:44 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 31 min |
| Dec 16, 4:54 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore | 66 min |
| Dec 16, 5:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 27 min |
| Dec 16, 5:06 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 54 min |
| Dec 16, 5:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 36 min |
| Dec 16, 5:22 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa | 23 min |
| Dec 16, 5:24 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 51 min |
| Dec 16, 5:26 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 49 min |
| Dec 16, 5:33 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 5:33 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 42 min |
| Dec 16, 5:38 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 37 min |
| Dec 16, 5:38 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bullock, Macon | 37 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2000Every tornado warning in 2000Tornadoes in 2000
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.