Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Mobile, AL

May 2, 2003Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2003, 4:37 PM CDT for Baldwin 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: May 2, 2003, 4:37 PM CDT (21:37 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2003, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Baldwin County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:37 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 nearest sounding before it

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 146 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: 1069 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -128 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 851 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KMOB 022137
TORMOB
ALC003-022230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
437 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BALDWIN COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 530 PM CDT

* AT 427 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF TENSAW...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  TENSAW BY 445 PM CDT
  LATHAM BY 455 PM CDT
  REDTOWN BY 500 PM CDT
  RABUN BY 510 PM CDT

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...ABANDON VEHICLES AND TRAILER
HOMES AND SEEK A REINFORCED SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

LAT...LON 3131 8779 3122 8763 3093 8768 3119 8794
          3120 8785

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 2:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Washington	57 min
May 2, 3:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	43 min
May 2, 4:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	57 min
May 2, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	56 min
May 2, 5:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Baldwin	59 min
May 2, 5:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	33 min
May 2, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Wilcox	52 min
May 2, 6:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Wilcox	50 min
May 2, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Wilcox	49 min
May 2, 6:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	42 min
May 2, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	28 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.