Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 166, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 7, 2003Chambers County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 7, 2003, 7:12 PM CDT for Chambers County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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 7, 2003, 7:12 PM CDT (00:12 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Chambers County, AL

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 7, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 143 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: 2242 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 809 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.4
Supercell composite: 8.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 080012
TORBHM
ALC017-080100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
711 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CHAMBERS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 705 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MILLTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...FIVE POINTS...
LAFAYETTE...LANETT...MILLTOWN...STROUD AND VALLEY.

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.

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

LAT...LON 3311 8524 3281 8517 3278 8512 3275 8513
          3275 8518 3287 8557 3311 8559

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 7:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	18 min
May 7, 7:04 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Talladega	4 hr
May 7, 7:11 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun	4 hr
May 7, 7:22 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 7, 8:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
May 7, 8:44 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	St. Clair	3 hr
May 7, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	48 min
May 7, 10:35 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun	5 hr
May 7, 10:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Talladega	5 hr
May 7, 10:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	5 hr
May 7, 11:06 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 7, 11:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	St. Clair	3 hr
May 8, 1:46 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	St. Clair	2 hr
May 8, 2:48 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Clay, Randolph	4 hr
May 8, 3:51 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
May 8, 4:00 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Calhoun, St. Clair, Talladega	3 hr

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.