Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 12, 2001Dallas County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 12, 2001, 11:03 AM CST for Dallas County, Alabama. It was in force for 27 min. 1 report 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: Mar 12, 2001, 11:03 AM CST (17:03 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 2001, 11:30 AM CST
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Dallas County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:06 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
Mar 12, 11:15 AM CST	Hail 0.75	Selma, AL	Penny size hail was reported in Selma.

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
Mar 12, 9:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 625 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 397 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 121704
TORBHM
ALC047-121730-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1103 AM CST MON MAR 12 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DALLAS COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 1130 AM CST

* AT 1058 AM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 24 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF SELMONT-WEST SELMONT...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...SELMONT-WEST
SELMONT AND SELMA.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES
FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3247 8727 3a221 8733 3207 8717 3209 8691
          3254 8690

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 12, 10:49 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	41 min
Mar 12, 11:25 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Autauga, Lowndes	35 min
Mar 12, 11:48 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Dallas	117 min
Mar 12, 12:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Autauga, Elmore, Montgomery	59 min
Mar 12, 12:47 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery	118 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.