Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 706

September 26, 200229 counties in Alabama; Quitman County, Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 26, 2002, 3:15 PM CDT for 29 counties in Alabama; Quitman County, Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Sep 26, 2002, 3:15 PM CDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Sep 26, 2002, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 30 counties

Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marion County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Russell County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Quitman County, GA

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:18 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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 33 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 262025
SEL6  
SPC WW 262030
ALZ000-270200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 706
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
330 PM CDT THU SEP 26 2002

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

   CENTRAL ALABAMA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 330 PM UNTIL 900
PM CDT.

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

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA TO 5
MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF TROY 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 703.  WATCH NUMBER 703 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 330 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 704...WW 705...

DISCUSSION...GREATER COMBINATION OF MODEST CAPE AND VERY STRONG LOW
LEVEL SHEAR WILL CONTINUE ACROSS CENTRAL AL AND SHIFT INTO NRN AL
THROUGH THE EVENING.  THIS SUPPORTS A CONTINUED THREAT OF ISOLATED
TORNADOES AS BANDS OF MOIST CONVECTION ROTATE NNEWD EAST OF
ISIDORE/S CENTER.  LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND RESULTANT TORNADO THREAT
WILL LIKELY BE HIGHEST NEAR WARM FRONT SHIFTING SLOWLY NWD ACROSS
CENTRAL AL ATTM.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH EXTREME
TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI
WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 17040.


...EVANS

314,0870 341,0881 341,0855 314,0845

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, 9:40 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler and 34 more	6 hr
Sep 26, 11:10 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Decatur, Dougherty, Early and 9 more	5 hr
Sep 26, 11:15 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Chattahoochee, Clay and 50 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2002 Tornado Watches in Georgia, 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.