Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 39, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 8, 2003St. Clair County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at May 8, 2003, 1:46 AM CDT for St. Clair County, Alabama. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2003, 1:46 AM CDT (06:46 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2003, 4:00 AM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County St. Clair County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:49 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 00:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 75 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: 2242 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 809 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.4
Supercell composite: 8.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KBMX 080650
FFWBHM
ALC115-080900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
146 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ST. CLAIR COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 400 AM CDT

* AT 146 AM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SHOWERS 
AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHERN ST. CLAIR COUNTY MOVING EAST AROUND 
30 MPH. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH CAN BE EXPECTED 
OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. RADAR ESTIMATES 5 TO 6 INCHES OF RAIN HAS 
FALLEN OVER THE AREA SINCE THIS AFTERNOON. SEVERAL ROADS ARE STILL 
CLOSED AND MANY AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS REMIAN HIGH.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING.
IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.
RESIDENTS LIVING ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE
PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS
SWIFTLY FLOWING WATERS OR WATERS OF UNKNOWN DEPTH BY FOOT OR BY
AUTOMOBILE. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS...ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK
HIGHER GROUND.

CALL 1-800-856-0758 TO REPORT FLOODING CONDITIONS.

LAT...LON 3396 8622 3380 8606 3375 8616 3370 8615
          3369 8621 3365 8618 3363 8621 3360 8621
          3358 8623 3357 8621 3351 8625 3352 8631
          3347 8633 3375 8653

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 7:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	18 min
May 7, 7:04 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Talladega	4 hr
May 7, 7:11 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun	4 hr
May 7, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	48 min
May 7, 7:22 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 7, 8:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
May 7, 8:44 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	St. Clair	3 hr
May 7, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	48 min
May 7, 10:35 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun	5 hr
May 7, 10:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Talladega	5 hr
May 7, 10:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	5 hr
May 7, 11:06 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 7, 11:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	St. Clair	3 hr
May 8, 2:48 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 8, 3:51 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
May 8, 4:00 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun, St. Clair, Talladega	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.