Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003
Tornado Warning 191, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 18, 2003, 12:55 PM CST for Jefferson 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
- Nov 18, 2003, 12:55 PM CST (18:55 UTC)
- Expired
- Nov 18, 2003, 1:30 PM CST
- In force
- 35 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 18:59 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 18, 11:25 AM CST | 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 47 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1123 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 319 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 389 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WFUS54 KBMX 181855
TORBHM
ALC073-181930-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1255 PM CST TUE NOV 18 2003
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHERN AND EASTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY IN ALABAMA
* UNTIL 130 PM CST
* AT 1254 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
TORNADO OVER BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT...MOVING EAST AROUND 40 MPH.
* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...BIRMINGHAM...
BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT...FULTONDALE...PINSON AND TRUSSVILLE.
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 3356 8657 3349 8671 3348 8684 3362 8690
3372 8664 3375 8652
$$The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 18, 10:06 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 54 min |
| Nov 18, 10:18 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 57 min |
| Nov 18, 10:42 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Sumter | 63 min |
| Nov 18, 10:48 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 42 min |
| Nov 18, 10:59 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 46 min |
| Nov 18, 11:13 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 32 min |
| Nov 18, 11:23 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 52 min |
| Nov 18, 11:53 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 52 min |
| Nov 18, 11:57 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 48 min |
| Nov 18, 11:58 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette, Walker | 47 min |
| Nov 18, 12:06 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marengo | 39 min |
| Nov 18, 12:20 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 40 min |
| Nov 18, 12:24 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 51 min |
| Nov 18, 12:43 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 47 min |
| Nov 18, 1:03 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount, St. Clair, Shelby | 42 min |
| Nov 18, 1:11 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 34 min |
| Nov 18, 1:18 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Perry | 27 min |
| Nov 18, 3:13 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton | 32 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2003Every tornado warning in 2003Tornadoes 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.