Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 26, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 6, 2003Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 6, 2003, 4:54 PM CDT for Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 66 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, 4:54 PM CDT (21:54 UTC)
Expired: Apr 6, 2003, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Sumter County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 147 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 147 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.

011 
WFUS54 KBMX 062154
TORBHM
ALC119-062300-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 600 PM CDT

* AT 450 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 11 MILES WEST OF CUBA...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...BELLAMY...CUBA...
LIVINGSTON AND YORK.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING 
WIND GUSTS TO 70 MILES PER HOUR...AND LARGE HAIL.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS 
PATH...SEEK SHELTER NOW. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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

LAT...LON 3245 8841 3258 8839 3261 8808 3260 8801
          3262 8796 3260 8790 3254 8788 3245 8802
          3238 8806 3239 8841

$$

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, 4:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Hale	53 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.