Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 48, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 17, 2003Marengo County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at May 17, 2003, 9:17 PM CDT for Marengo County, Alabama. It was in force for 6 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 17, 2003, 9:17 PM CDT (02:17 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 2003, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Marengo County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 146 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:18 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 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 146 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: 1730 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1037 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 351 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.3
Supercell composite: 15.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KBMX 180219
FFWBHM
ALC091-180800-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
917 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  MARENGO COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 300 AM CDT

* AT 917 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN ACROSS MARENGO COUNTY.  THE HEAVY 
RAIN IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT.

DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED THAT BETWEEN 2 AND 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAS 
FALLEN ACROSS MARENGO COUNTY THIS EVENING...WITH THE HEAVIEST 
RAINFALL IN AND AROUND DEMOPOLIS.  WITH THE ABUNDANT 
RAINFALL...FLASH FLOODING IS LIKELY.

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 3217 8803 3204 8788 3229 8755 3245 8774

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:08 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	6 hr
May 17, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	48 min
May 17, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	47 min
May 17, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Cherokee	34 min
May 17, 8:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	28 min
May 17, 9:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Etowah	62 min
May 17, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	35 min
May 17, 10:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Cherokee, Etowah	4 hr
May 17, 11:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	48 min
May 17, 11:55 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
May 18, 8:52 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	6 hr
May 18, 11:24 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun	4 hr
May 18, 11:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	54 min
May 18, 11:59 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	46 min
May 18, 12:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour	50 min
May 18, 12:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	33 min
May 18, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour, Russell	35 min

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.