Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 32, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 24, 2001, 6:41 PM CDT for Blount County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 min. 3 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
- May 24, 2001, 6:41 PM CDT (23:41 UTC)
- Expired
- May 24, 2001, 7:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Blount County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:45 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 6:45 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Blountsville, AL | |
| May 24, 6:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 60 E | Blountsville, AL | |
| May 24, 7:02 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Oneonta, AL | A small tornado was observed and photographed north of Rosa in Blount County. The short lived tornado occurred in a rural area and no damage was reported with it. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 4:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 91 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
- 8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -159 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 897 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 21 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -73 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS54 KBMX 242341 TORBHM ALC009-250030- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 641 PM CDT THU MAY 24 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... BLOUNT COUNTY IN CENTRAL ALABAMA * UNTIL 730 PM CDT * AT 643 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 7 MILES NORTH OF SMOKE RISE...MOVING EAST AT 55 MPH. A TORNADO WAS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM IN SOUTHERN CULLMAN COUNTY. * LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...SUSAN MOORE... SNEAD...SMOKE RISE...ONEONTA...CLEVELAND AND BLOUNTSVILLE. 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. THIS TORNADO MAY BE OBSCURED BY RAIN...AND MAY NOT BE VISIBLE. TAKE COVER NOW. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT THURSDAY EVENING FOR NORTHERN ALABAMA.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2:08 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 52 min |
| May 24, 2:20 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 55 min |
| May 24, 2:38 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 67 min |
| May 24, 2:55 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 65 min |
| May 24, 3:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 54 min |
| May 24, 4:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah, St. Clair | 35 min |
| May 24, 4:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee, DeKalb | 19 min |
| May 24, 4:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee | 43 min |
| May 24, 5:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 15 min |
| May 24, 5:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Cullman | 28 min |
| May 24, 5:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 24 min |
| May 24, 5:33 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jackson, Madison | 42 min |
| May 24, 5:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 29 min |
| May 24, 5:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Etowah | 26 min |
| May 24, 5:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 16 min |
| May 24, 6:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman, Walker | 23 min |
| May 24, 6:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson | 18 min |
| May 24, 6:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 35 min |
| May 24, 6:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 13 min |
| May 24, 6:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 21 min |
| May 24, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 30 min |
| May 24, 6:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 24 min |
| May 24, 6:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman, Morgan | 38 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes 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.