Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 52, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 18, 2003Calhoun County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at May 18, 2003, 11:24 AM CDT for Calhoun County, Alabama. It was in force for 4 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 18, 2003, 11:24 AM CDT (16:24 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 2003, 3:00 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Calhoun County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:27 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, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 109 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: 169 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 715 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KBMX 181624
FFWBHM
ALC015-182000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1124 AM CDT SUN MAY 18 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  CALHOUN COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 300 PM CDT

* AT 1124 AM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY
  RAIN OVER ANNISTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.  WATER WAS 
  REPORTED OVER ROADS IN THE ANNISTON AREA.

TWO TO FOUR INCHES OF RAIN FELL ACROSS THE AREA OVERNIGHT AND THIS 
MORNING...MAKING THE GROUND SATURATED.  EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM 
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL TODAY WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS AND STREAMS...URBAN AREAS...HIGHWAYS...STREETS AND 
UNDERPASSES AS WELL AS OTHER DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.

MOST FLASH FLOODING DEATHS ARE AUTOMOBILE RELATED. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR OTHER LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT. TO
ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.

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 3373 8606 3361 8577 3393 8558 3394 8582

$$

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, 9:17 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Marengo	6 hr
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, 11:51 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.