Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 96, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 4, 2001Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 4, 2001, 9:00 AM CDT for Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 30 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 4, 2001, 9:00 AM CDT (14:00 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 2001, 9:30 AM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Sumter County, AL

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 4, 6:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 1424 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -96 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 545 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KBMX 041401
SVRBHM

ALC119-041430-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
900 AM CDT WED APR 4 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SUMTER COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 930 AM CDT

* AT 858 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES WEST OF LIVINGSTON...MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 25 MPH.

LoARGE HAIL IS LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS 
STORM...MOVE TO A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

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 4, 3:46 AM CDT, 5 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 4, 3:46 AM CDT, 5 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
346 AM CDT WED APR 04 2001

AT 8 Z SFC BOUNDARY LOCATED FROM ~ GWO TO MEI TO GZH. THIS BOUNDARY
WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR PRECIP THROUGH
TONIGHT.

MODELS ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT THROUGH THE SHORT TERM. WEST COAST
TROUGH DIGS TODAY...RESULTING IN RISING HEIGHTS OVER THE MS VALLEY.
THE MAIN FEATURE...SFC BOUNDARY...LOOKS TO REMAIN IN THE SAME
VICINITY AS CURRENT LOCATION...WITH A SLIGHT JOG NORTHWARD
ANTICIPATED. LAPSE RATES WILL BE FAIRLY STEEP AND A FEW STORMS COULD
APPROACH SEVER LIMITS...WITH HAIL AND WINDS BEING THE MAIN TREAT.
THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE FLOODING. WINDS ALOFT WILL BE
UNIDIRECTIONAL AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY MOVE OVER THE SAME
AREAS. WILL KEEP THE CURRENT FF WATCH CONFIGURATION WITH A FEW
COUNTIES ADDED...THE ADDITIONS WILL BE MAINLY OVER NORTHWEST AL. WILL
HAVE THE WATCH WORDED FOR TODAY...AND THE DAY SHIFT WILL MONITOR FOR
ANY EXTENSION.

BY TONIGHT...TSRA SHOULD BE ENDING. MODELS AGREE ON HEIGHTS RISING
AND SHORT/WAVES MOVING OUT OF THE AREA. BY THU...SFC FRONT MOVES
WESTWARD...AND DRYER LOW LEVEL AIR FILTERS IN...BY EAST WINDS.
THU-FRI RIDGE AXIS WILL BE JUST TO OUR WEST...THEN MOVE OVER THE
REGION. SUBSIDENCE SHOULD INHIBIT ANY PRECIP. FOR THE WEEKEND...
THICKNESSES INCREASE AND THE WARM UP CONTINUES.

FOR TEMPS...WILL GO LOWER THAN MOS...AS RAIN CLDS SHOULD KEEP
TEMPS DOWN. BUT KEEP IN MIND...ANY THINNING OF THE CLOUDS AND TEMPS
WILL QUICKLY RISE.

HSV 70/57 73/57 80 430
BHM 71/57 75/57 81 751
MGM 72/60 78/59 84 851

.BHM...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PARTS OF NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL
       ALABAMA TODAY.

848

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 4, 7:25 AM CDT, 1 hour 35 minutes before

ALZ001>038-040>050-051530-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
725 AM CDT WED APR 04 2001

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA.

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...WITH A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS...ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL
ALABAMA THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON.

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS PLACED MUCH OF NORTHWEST...AND
WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA UNDER A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH...UNTIL 11 AM
THIS MORNING. THIS WATCH INCLUDES AREAS WEST OF A ROGERSVILLE...TO
BIRMINGHAM...TO PRATTVILLE LINE. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE LARGE HAIL...AND THE GREATEST
THREAT TIME WILL BE THROUGH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL AND STORM SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD
MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY FOR POSSIBLE
ACTIVATION.

Local storm report, Apr 4, 7:57 AM CDT, 1 hour 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
757 AM CDT WED APR 04 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

550 AM     1S FAYETTE                AL   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/04/01   FAYETTE                        EMA REPORTED DIME SIZED
                                          HAIL.

730 AM     COTTONDALE                AL   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/04/01   TUSCALOOSA                     EMA REPORTED QUARTER
                                          SIZED HAIL.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 7:58 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Chilton, Coosa	3 hr
Apr 3, 8:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Elmore, Jefferson, Macon, Shelby, Talladega and 2 more	3 hr
Apr 3, 8:30 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Chambers, Randolph	4 hr
Apr 3, 10:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Dallas, Lowndes, Montgomery and 2 more	3 hr
Apr 4, 12:21 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale, Sumter	99 min
Apr 4, 1:32 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Dallas, Greene, Hale and 5 more	6 hr
Apr 4, 5:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	35 min
Apr 4, 7:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb, Tuscaloosa	34 min
Apr 4, 8:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	23 min
Apr 4, 8:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	35 min
Apr 4, 8:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	24 min
Apr 4, 9:04 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	26 min
Apr 4, 9:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb	39 min
Apr 4, 9:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	33 min
Apr 4, 10:12 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Dallas	3 hr
Apr 4, 11:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	40 min
Apr 4, 12:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	34 min
Apr 4, 1:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Morgan	3 hr
Apr 4, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	41 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.