Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 169, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 17, 2003Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 17, 2003, 1:53 PM CDT for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 47 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 17, 2003, 1:53 PM CDT (18:53 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2003, 2:40 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Tuscaloosa County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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 17, 9:20 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 2005 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 457 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.2
Supercell composite: 6.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

766 
WFUS54 KBMX 171853
TORBHM
ALC125-171940-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
152 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  TUSCALOOSA COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 240 PM CDT

* AT 152 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 10 MILES WEST OF FOSTERS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...FOSTERS...HOLT...
  NORTHPORT AND TUSCALOOSA.

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 3315 8784 3303 8770 3320 8746 3336 8765

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 10:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	52 min
May 17, 10:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	58 min
May 17, 12:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	6 hr
May 17, 1:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX		41 min
May 17, 2:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	33 min
May 17, 2:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	31 min
May 17, 2:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	39 min
May 17, 2:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson, Walker	32 min
May 17, 2:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	47 min
May 17, 3:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	42 min
May 17, 3:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	37 min
May 17, 3:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	39 min
May 17, 3:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	25 min
May 17, 4:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	24 min
May 17, 4:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	41 min
May 17, 4:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	64 min
May 17, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pickens	63 min
May 17, 5:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	64 min
May 17, 5:59 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Pickens, Sumter	4 hr
May 17, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	59 min
May 17, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	45 min
May 17, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	60 min
May 17, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	36 min
May 17, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa, Shelby, Talladega	39 min
May 17, 6:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Coosa, Talladega	32 min
May 17, 6:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	61 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.