Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 795

December 19, 200223 counties in Alabama; 5 counties in Florida; 12 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 19, 2002, 3:15 PM CST for 23 counties in Alabama; 5 counties in Florida; 12 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 19, 2002, 3:15 PM CST (21:15 UTC)
Expired: Dec 19, 2002, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 40 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Clay County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Chattahoochee County, GA, Coweta County, GA, Harris County, GA, Heard County, GA, Meriwether County, GA, Muscogee County, GA, Pike County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Stewart County, GA, Talbot County, GA, Troup County, GA

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
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, 4:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	52 min
Dec 19, 6:04 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne, Randolph	26 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 190 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.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 192114
SEL5  
SPC WW 192115
ALZ000-FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-200300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 795
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
315 PM CST THU DEC 19 2002

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

   EASTERN ALABAMA                            
   WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE                            
   WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA                            
   COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL 900
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 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES SOUTHEAST OF PENSACOLA FLORIDA TO 25 MILES
NORTH OF LA GRANGE GEORGIA.

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...  CONTINUE...WW 794...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO SPREAD EWD ACROSS AL
INTO WRN GA AS VIGOROUS TROUGH AND COUPLED JET MOVE ACROSS AREA
AHEAD OF COLD FRONT AND DEEPENING SURFACE LOW TN VALLEY. SHEAR AND
INSTABILITY VERY FAVORABLE FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS ALONG SQUALL
LINE MOVING INTO WRM AL AND EWD ACROSS WARM SECTOR.

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 23045.


...HALES

332,0840 301,0855 301,0875 332,0860

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 19, 9:35 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Marengo, Mobile and 3 more	5 hr
Dec 19, 11:40 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas and 12 more	6 hr

Nearby

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