Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 115, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 2, 2003Shelby County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2003, 7:25 PM CDT for Shelby County, Alabama. It was in force for 35 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: May 2, 2003, 7:25 PM CDT (00:25 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Shelby County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 3 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:25 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 2, 5:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 4 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: 2674 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1099 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 2.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

287 
WFUS54 KBMX 030025
TORBHM
ALC117-030100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
725 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SHELBY COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 725 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 6 MILES NORTH OF CALERA...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...CALERA AND
COLUMBIANA.

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 3316 8691 3308 8681 3313 8652 3331 8656

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	12 min
May 2, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	42 min
May 2, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton, Coosa	64 min
May 2, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	32 min
May 2, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	16 min
May 2, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	44 min
May 2, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	40 min
May 2, 7:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Talladega	22 min
May 2, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas, Perry	64 min
May 2, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Tallapoosa	62 min
May 2, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Coosa	42 min
May 2, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb, Shelby	33 min
May 2, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pike	66 min
May 2, 8:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	36 min
May 2, 8:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	32 min
May 2, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	28 min
May 2, 9:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock	39 min
May 2, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	28 min
May 2, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	45 min
May 3, 1:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	45 min
May 3, 7:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	36 min
May 3, 7:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	45 min
May 3, 8:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby	43 min
May 3, 8:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	36 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.