Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 703

September 26, 200240 counties in Alabama; 9 counties in Florida; 30 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 26, 2002, 9:40 AM CDT for 40 counties in Alabama; 9 counties in Florida; 30 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Sep 26, 2002, 9:40 AM CDT (14:40 UTC)
Expired: Sep 26, 2002, 4:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 79 counties

Autauga County, AL, Baldwin County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Attala County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Leake County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Marion County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Scott County, MS, Smith County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS, Webster County, MS, Winston County, MS

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:40 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 26, 12:05 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena and 5 more	3 hr
Sep 26, 12:32 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena and 5 more	2 hr
Sep 26, 3:01 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena and 5 more	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 474 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1003 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1252 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 261446
SEL3  
SPC WW 261440
ALZ000-FLZ000-MSZ000-CWZ000-262100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 703
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
940 AM CDT THU SEP 26 2002

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

   SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA                            
   WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE                           
   SOUTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI                        
   COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 940 AM UNTIL 400
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 0.5 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 105 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAUREL MISSISSIPPI TO 25
MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF DOTHAN 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 702.  WATCH NUMBER 702 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 940 AM
CDT.

DISCUSSION...REMNANTS OF ISIDORE WILL CONTINUE TRACKING JUST NNE
INTO ERN MS THIS AFTERNOON...WITH BROAD REGION OF ENHANCED WIND
FIELDS EXTENDING WELL EAST OF THE CENTER.  AIR MASS IS ALREADY
MODERATELY UNSTABLE ALONG THE FL PANHANDLE...WITHIN A STRONGLY
SHEARED ENVIRONMENT.  WITH STRONG LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND LOW LCL
HEIGHTS REMAINING IN PLACE...RESULTANT TORNADO THREAT WILL CONTINUE
TO SPREAD NWD AS AIR MASS DESTABILIZES DURING THE DAY. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 0.5 INCH...EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 16035.


...EVANS

334,0895 325,0850 295,0850 304,0895

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 25, 11:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva and 3 more	8 hr
Sep 26, 3:40 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 18 more	6 hr
Sep 26, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun and 23 more	6 hr
Sep 26, 11:10 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Wakulla	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2002 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2002 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2002 Every tornado watch 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.