Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 19, 2003Cherokee County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 19, 2003, 2:38 PM CST for Cherokee County, Alabama. It was in force for 22 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, 2:38 PM CST (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Mar 19, 2003, 3:00 PM CST
In force: 22 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cherokee County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:38 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -267 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 417 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 730 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

662 
WFUS54 KBMX 192038
TORBHM
ALC019-192100-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 300 PM CST

* AT 235 PM CST...THE PUBLIC REPORTED HAS REPORTED SEVERAL WALL 
CLOUDS WITH THIS STORM.  THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 30 
MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...CEDAR BLUFF AND
GAYLESVILLE.

THIS STORM SHOWS STRONG ROTATION AND MAY PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY
TIME. DO NOT WAIT. GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW PUT AS MANY WALLS BETWEEN
YOU AND THE OUTSIDE AS POSSIBLE.

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION.
EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES...GO TO A STURDY BUILDING. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OR A BASEMENT. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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

LAT...LON 3435 8574 3419 8562 3440 8514 3460 8528

$$

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, 1:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Etowah	49 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, 2:57 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.