Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 179, NWS Birmingham, AL

June 2, 2003Jefferson County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 2003, 7:38 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 37 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: Jun 2, 2003, 7:38 PM CDT (00:38 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 2003, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Jefferson County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:37 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
Jun 2, 4:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 247 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: 15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -190 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1648 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 030038
TORBHM
ALC073-030115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
737 PM CDT MON JUN 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY IN ALABAMA

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT

* AT 732 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 15 MILES WEST OF NORTH JOHNS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...BESSEMER...
HUEYTOWN...NORTH JOHNS AND SYLVAN SPRINGS.

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 3348 8734 3364 8706 3337 8691 3332 8716

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 7:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	36 min
Jun 2, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga	34 min
Jun 2, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	42 min
Jun 2, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	62 min
Jun 2, 8:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	53 min
Jun 2, 8:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson	30 min
Jun 2, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga	44 min
Jun 2, 8:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson, Shelby	49 min
Jun 2, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Marion	45 min
Jun 2, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	55 min
Jun 2, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	20 min
Jun 2, 8:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	48 min
Jun 2, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens, Tuscaloosa	62 min
Jun 2, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	56 min
Jun 2, 9:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	47 min
Jun 2, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	49 min
Jun 2, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	48 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.