Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 19, 2003Etowah County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 19, 2003, 1:26 PM CST for Etowah County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 19, 2003, 1:26 PM CST (19:26 UTC)
Expired: Mar 19, 2003, 2:15 PM CST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Etowah County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:28 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, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 130 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: 246 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 573 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 530 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 779 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

202 
WFUS54 KBMX 191926
TORBHM
ALC055-192015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
126 PM CST WED MAR 19 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ETOWAH COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 215 PM CST

* AT 123 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER GADSDEN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...ATTALLA...
GADSDEN...REECE CITY AND RIDGEVILLE.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...SEEK SHELTER NOW.
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

CALL 1-800-856-0758 TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER.

LAT...LON 3420 8585 3414 8585 3414 8579 3392 8599
          3401 8616 3420 8603

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 18, 10:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby	50 min
Mar 18, 11:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	65 min
Mar 19, 9:06 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount	24 min
Mar 19, 11:24 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	51 min
Mar 19, 12:42 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Etowah	48 min
Mar 19, 1:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cherokee	47 min
Mar 19, 2:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair, Talladega	31 min
Mar 19, 2:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cherokee	22 min
Mar 19, 2:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Talladega	48 min
Mar 19, 3:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	44 min
Mar 19, 3:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	51 min
Mar 19, 3:17 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	28 min
Mar 19, 3:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun	43 min
Mar 19, 3:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cherokee	37 min
Mar 19, 3:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	35 min
Mar 19, 3:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	29 min
Mar 19, 3:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	41 min
Mar 19, 3:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour	47 min
Mar 19, 3:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	62 min
Mar 19, 4:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Randolph	51 min
Mar 19, 4:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	49 min
Mar 19, 4:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	30 min
Mar 19, 4:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Randolph	50 min
Mar 19, 4:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	35 min
Mar 19, 4:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	32 min
Mar 19, 5:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	49 min
Mar 19, 5:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.