Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2001

Tornado Watch 840

November 29, 200142 counties in Alabama; 29 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 29, 2001, 12:00 PM CST for 42 counties in Alabama; 29 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Nov 29, 2001, 12:00 PM CST (18:00 UTC)
Expired: Nov 29, 2001, 5:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 71 counties

Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Winston County, AL, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Clarke County, MS, Clay County, MS, Greene County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lee County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Perry County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Union County, MS, Wayne County, MS, Webster County, MS, Winston County, MS

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:00 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.

Warnings issued inside it

17 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 29, 12:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Chickasaw	24 min
Nov 29, 12:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wayne	47 min
Nov 29, 12:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Newton	41 min
Nov 29, 12:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke, Lauderdale	47 min
Nov 29, 12:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Neshoba, Winston	45 min
Nov 29, 12:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	33 min
Nov 29, 12:43 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Lauderdale	47 min
Nov 29, 12:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chickasaw	43 min
Nov 29, 12:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Kemper	38 min
Nov 29, 12:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clay	35 min
Nov 29, 12:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Noxubee	33 min
Nov 29, 1:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	35 min
Nov 29, 1:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	45 min
Nov 29, 1:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lowndes, Noxubee	31 min
Nov 29, 2:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Monroe	53 min
Nov 29, 4:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	42 min
Nov 29, 4:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	48 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 72 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 389 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 378 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 291755
SEL0  

SEL0  
SPC WW 291746
ALZ000-MSZ000-292300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 840
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1146 AM CST THU NOV 29 2001

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA                            
   EASTERN AND NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI                        

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON FROM NOON CST UNTIL 500 PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF MUSCLE SHOALS ALABAMA TO 100
MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF SELMA ALABAMA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 838.  WATCH NUMBER 838 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER NOON CST. 
CONTINUE...WW 839...

DISCUSSION...SEGMENTED SQUALL LINE WITH EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTENSIFYING AS IT ACCELERATES NNE AHEAD OF
EJECTING NW GULF OF MEXICO SHORTWAVE TROUGH.  SUPERCELLS ALSO
EXPECTED TO FORM INVOF DEVELOPING SURFACE LOW OVER NRN MS...WHERE
SURFACE PRESSURE FALLS WILL ENHANCE LOW LEVEL ELY COMPONENT TO
FLOW.  COMBINATION OF LOW LCLS AND BACKED NEAR-SURFACE FLOW WILL BE
FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES.  

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21035.

...CORFIDI

350,0862 310,0860 310,0890 350,0893

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 29, 10:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Mobile	5 hr
Nov 29, 4:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson and 2 more	5 hr
Nov 29, 8:15 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne and 41 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2001 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2001 Every tornado watch 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.