Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 28, 2001Etowah County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 28, 2001, 7:48 PM CDT for Etowah County, Alabama. It was in force for 42 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: May 28, 2001, 7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 2001, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Etowah County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:50 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.

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 28, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 124 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: 1324 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1211 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 7.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 290048
TORBHM
ALC055-290115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
748 PM CDT MON MAY 28 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ETOWAH COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT

* AT 745 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
  DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER REECE CITY...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...REECE CITY...
HOKES BLUFF AND GADSDEN.

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.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT MONDAY
EVENING FOR ALABAMA.

LAT...LON 3416 8610 3397 8610 3395 8576 3414 8585

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair	29 min
May 28, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	61 min
May 28, 7:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cherokee, DeKalb	27 min
May 28, 7:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson	23 min
May 28, 7:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, St. Clair	48 min
May 28, 7:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Shelby	29 min
May 28, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb	42 min
May 28, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah	52 min
May 28, 7:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Perry	37 min
May 28, 7:47 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	DeKalb	3 hr
May 28, 8:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun	49 min
May 28, 8:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby	48 min
May 28, 8:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	33 min
May 28, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	43 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.