Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Mobile, AL

April 7, 2003Wilcox County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 7, 2003, 12:37 AM CDT for Wilcox County, Alabama. It was in force for 23 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 7, 2003, 12:37 AM CDT (05:37 UTC)
Expired: Apr 7, 2003, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 23 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wilcox County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:40 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, 10:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 677 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -71 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1007 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

960 
WFUS54 KMOB 070537
TORMOB
ALC131-070600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1237 AM CDT MON APR 7 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WILCOX COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 100 AM CDT

* AT 1235 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CATHERINE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25
  MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  GASTONBURG BY 1245 AM CDT
  REHOBOTH...ALBERTA BY 1250 AM CDT

LAT...LON 3218 8758 3204 8751 3212 8726 3227 8746

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 6, 10:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Choctaw	65 min
Apr 6, 11:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	56 min
Apr 7, 12:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	46 min
Apr 7, 1:03 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Wilcox	42 min
Apr 7, 6:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	44 min
Apr 7, 7:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	53 min
Apr 7, 1:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	28 min
Apr 7, 3:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	48 min
Apr 7, 5:23 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MOB	Baldwin	3 hr

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.