Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Huntsville, AL

November 18, 2003DeKalb County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 18, 2003, 2:16 PM CST for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 29 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, 2:16 PM CST (20:16 UTC)
Expired: Nov 18, 2003, 2:45 PM CST
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Huntsville, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County DeKalb County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:16 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, 1:55 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 174 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: 22 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 266 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 319 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHUN 182016
TORHUN
ALC049-182045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
216 PM CST TUE NOV 18 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DEKALB COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 245 PM CST

* AT 211 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER RAINSVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...FORT PAYNE...
FYFFE...HAMMONDVILLE...HENAGAR...IDER...MENTONE...PINE RIDGE...
POWELL...RAINSVILLE...SHILOH...SYLVANIA AND VALLEY HEAD.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC
STORM...MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR STORM SHELTER...OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR MORE
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3446 8598 3431 8576 3459 8556 3478 8561

$$ 


SS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 18, 12:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Cullman, Limestone, Morgan	47 min
Nov 18, 12:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Lauderdale, Lawrence	48 min
Nov 18, 12:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Cullman	50 min
Nov 18, 12:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Limestone, Madison, Morgan	65 min
Nov 18, 1:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Marshall	58 min
Nov 18, 1:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Madison	50 min
Nov 18, 1:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Jackson	50 min
Nov 18, 1:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb	50 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.