Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 25, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 6, 2003Hale County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 6, 2003, 4:52 PM CDT for Hale County, Alabama. It was in force for 53 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: Apr 6, 2003, 4:52 PM CDT (21:52 UTC)
Expired: Apr 6, 2003, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Hale County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:55 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
Apr 6, 1:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 102 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: 43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -292 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 938 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 220 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 283 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 062152
TORBHM
ALC065-062245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
452 PM CDT SUN APR 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT

* AT 450 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SAWYERVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...GREENSBORO...
NEWBERN AND SAWYERVILLE.

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 3277 8787 3279 8782 3289 8743 3284 8743
          3283 8748 3251 8753 3250 8766 3253 8773
          3253 8781 3257 8777 3263 8777 3265 8773
          3266 8778 3275 8780

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 6, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Pickens, Sumter	67 min
Apr 6, 3:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	39 min
Apr 6, 4:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene, Sumter	47 min
Apr 6, 4:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	66 min
Apr 6, 4:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	22 min
Apr 6, 6:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Hale	9 min
Apr 6, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	49 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.