Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 16, 2001Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Feb 16, 2001, 3:08 PM CST for Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 52 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: Feb 16, 2001, 3:08 PM CST (21:08 UTC)
Expired: Feb 16, 2001, 4:00 PM CST
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

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
Feb 16, 1:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 261 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 649 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 162109
TORBHM
ALC119-162200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
308 PM CST FRI FEB 16 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN SUMTER COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 400 PM CST

* AT 305 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
TORNADO 21 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CUBA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...CUBA.

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.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CST FRIDAY EVENING FOR
ALABAMA.

LAT...LON 3229 8872 3213 8862 3251 8791 3260 8800

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 16, 1:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone, Madison	24 min
Feb 16, 1:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	41 min
Feb 16, 1:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	51 min
Feb 16, 1:56 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jackson	34 min
Feb 16, 1:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Sumter	48 min
Feb 16, 2:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Tuscaloosa	40 min
Feb 16, 2:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	50 min
Feb 16, 2:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	35 min
Feb 16, 2:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson, Walker	43 min
Feb 16, 2:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb, Jefferson, Shelby	51 min
Feb 16, 2:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	50 min
Feb 16, 2:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, Cullman	45 min
Feb 16, 2:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Hale	37 min
Feb 16, 3:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	37 min
Feb 16, 3:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	52 min
Feb 16, 3:16 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount, Cullman	29 min
Feb 16, 3:16 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Perry	29 min
Feb 16, 3:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah, Marshall	38 min
Feb 16, 3:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb	64 min
Feb 16, 3:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby, Talladega	31 min
Feb 16, 3:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	43 min
Feb 16, 3:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	42 min
Feb 16, 3:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee, DeKalb	64 min
Feb 16, 3:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay, Cleburne	55 min
Feb 16, 3:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	32 min
Feb 16, 4:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cherokee, Cleburne	34 min
Feb 16, 4:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Randolph	47 min
Feb 16, 4:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	24 min
Feb 16, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	36 min
Feb 16, 5:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	52 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.