Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 81, NWS Birmingham, AL

December 19, 2002Bibb County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Dec 19, 2002, 2:35 PM CST for Bibb County, Alabama. It was in force for 40 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 19, 2002, 2:35 PM CST (20:35 UTC)
Expired: Dec 19, 2002, 3:15 PM CST
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Bibb County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:37 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
Dec 19, 11:40 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 37 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 496 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 444 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 490 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.

766 
WFUS54 KBMX 192035
TORBHM
ALC007-192115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
235 PM CST THU DEC 19 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BIBB COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 315 PM CST

* AT 232 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
TORNADO OVER NORTHEASTERN PERRY COUNTY...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45   
MPH.

THIS STORM SHOWS STRONG ROTATION AND MAY PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY
TIME. DO NOT WAIT. GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW PUT AS MANY WALLS BETWEEN
YOU AND THE OUTSIDE AS POSSIBLE.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...SEEK SHELTER NOW.
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

CALL 1-800-856-0758 TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER.

LAT...LON 3284 8722 3284 8689 3300 8687 3308 8693

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 19, 12:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	39 min
Dec 19, 1:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	46 min
Dec 19, 2:23 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Perry	37 min
Dec 19, 2:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	29 min
Dec 19, 3:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Elmore	39 min
Dec 19, 4:09 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	36 min
Dec 19, 4:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	32 min
Dec 19, 4:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.