Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 79, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 3, 2000Jefferson County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 2000, 12:29 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 61 min. 5 reports 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
Apr 3, 2000, 12:29 PM CDT (17:29 UTC)
Expired
Apr 3, 2000, 1:30 PM CDT
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:31 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 3, 12:30 PM CDTTornado F2Oak Grove, AL
Apr 3, 12:44 PM CDTTornado F0Oak Grove, ALA weak tornado briefly touched down between Oak Grove and Sylvan Springs and mainly affected a rural area. Several trees were snapped off or blown down along the three mile path. A few homes received minor roof damage. The most concentrated damage was on H
Apr 3, 12:55 PM CDTHail 0.75Bessemer, AL
Apr 3, 1:05 PM CDTHail 1Midfield, AL
Apr 3, 1:09 PM CDTTornado F1Vestavia Hills, ALThe tornado path began on Shades Crest just west of US 31. The tornado paralleled Shades Crest before moving down a hill and across the Birmingham Water Works and US 280. The tornado continued to travel northeasterly just north of Overton Road through a heav

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 3, 10:30 AM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 43 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2000-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 162 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2000-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 178 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
162 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-57 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
73 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 031729
TORBHM
ALC073-031830-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1229 PM CDT MON APR 3 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 130 PM CDT.

* AT 1229 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 18 MILES WEST OF
  HUEYTOWN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... 
  TRUSSVILLE...TARRANT...SYLVAN SPRINGS...PLEASANT GROVE...
  PINSON-CLAY-CHALKVILLE...MINOR...MIDFIELD...MAYTOWN...LIPSCOMB...
  IRONDALE...HUEYTOWN...HOMEWOOD...GRAYSVILLE...GARDENDALE...
  FULTONDALE...FORESTDALE...FAIRFIELD...CENTER POINT...BROOKSIDE...
  BRIGHTON...BIRMINGHAM AND ADAMSVILLE.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...SEEK SHELTER NOW.
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 2, 7:06 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXElmore, Macon54 min
Apr 2, 7:13 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXMontgomery17 min
Apr 2, 7:16 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXGreene, Pickens, Sumter59 min
Apr 2, 7:26 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXTallapoosa64 min
Apr 2, 8:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXEtowah, St. Clair48 min
Apr 2, 8:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby48 min
Apr 2, 8:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXSt. Clair37 min
Apr 2, 9:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCalhoun, Talladega40 min
Apr 2, 9:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa46 min
Apr 2, 9:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson56 min
Apr 2, 9:44 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXJefferson46 min
Apr 2, 10:13 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXSt. Clair62 min
Apr 2, 10:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCherokee27 min
Apr 2, 11:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton34 min
Apr 2, 11:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCalhoun43 min
Apr 3, 12:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay, Cleburne41 min
Apr 3, 12:18 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXCalhoun27 min
Apr 3, 12:21 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXCherokee29 min
Apr 3, 12:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCoosa, Tallapoosa44 min
Apr 3, 12:41 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay, Randolph39 min
Apr 3, 10:46 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPickens44 min
Apr 3, 11:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXGreene, Sumter40 min
Apr 3, 11:23 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa52 min
Apr 3, 11:31 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXLawrence, Winston29 min
Apr 3, 11:42 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXTuscaloosa33 min
Apr 3, 11:43 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXFayette, Walker47 min
Apr 3, 11:53 AM CDTTornado WarningBMXMorgan52 min
Apr 3, 12:11 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXTuscaloosa34 min
Apr 3, 12:13 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXWinston32 min
Apr 3, 12:31 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXWalker44 min
Apr 3, 12:32 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXMadison43 min
Apr 3, 12:36 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXHale, Perry39 min
Apr 3, 12:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb34 min
Apr 3, 12:48 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXBlount, Cullman57 min
Apr 3, 1:01 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXShelby44 min
Apr 3, 1:10 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXPerry50 min
Apr 3, 1:17 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXBibb28 min
Apr 3, 1:23 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXSt. Clair67 min
Apr 3, 1:30 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXChilton45 min
Apr 3, 1:40 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXShelby35 min
Apr 3, 1:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXEtowah36 min
Apr 3, 1:57 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXCalhoun48 min
Apr 3, 2:06 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXCoosa39 min
Apr 3, 2:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega46 min
Apr 3, 2:22 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXTalladega23 min
Apr 3, 2:27 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXAutauga, Dallas33 min
Apr 3, 2:34 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXCherokee, Etowah41 min
Apr 3, 2:38 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXDeKalb52 min
Apr 3, 2:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega28 min
Apr 3, 2:57 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXAutauga33 min
Apr 3, 3:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCalhoun, Cleburne42 min
Apr 3, 3:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay43 min
Apr 3, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore51 min
Apr 3, 3:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCoosa32 min
Apr 3, 3:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLowndes30 min
Apr 3, 3:48 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXCoosa, Tallapoosa42 min
Apr 3, 3:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMontgomery46 min
Apr 3, 4:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRandolph50 min
Apr 3, 4:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore, Macon, Tallapoosa61 min
Apr 3, 5:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee, Macon52 min
Apr 3, 6:38 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXRussell37 min
Apr 3, 6:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee16 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.