Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 211

May 2, 200332 counties in Alabama; Clay County, Quitman County, Troup County, Georgia; Noxubee County, Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 2, 2003, 3:25 PM CDT for 32 counties in Alabama; Clay County, Quitman County, Troup County, Georgia; Noxubee County, Mississippi. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2003, 3:25 PM CDT (20:25 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2003, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 36 counties

Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Henry County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Clay County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Troup County, GA, Noxubee County, MS

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:29 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.

Warnings issued inside it

32 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 3:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	43 min
May 2, 3:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	39 min
May 2, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	51 min
May 2, 4:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	48 min
May 2, 4:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	47 min
May 2, 4:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Hale	43 min
May 2, 4:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	57 min
May 2, 4:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	36 min
May 2, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	60 min
May 2, 4:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marengo	26 min
May 2, 4:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Perry	46 min
May 2, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Noxubee	26 min
May 2, 4:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	38 min
May 2, 4:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Hale	35 min
May 2, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	56 min
May 2, 5:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Perry	48 min
May 2, 5:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	47 min
May 2, 5:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb	25 min
May 2, 5:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	40 min
May 2, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	36 min
May 2, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	56 min
May 2, 6:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	46 min
May 2, 6:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale, Talladega	45 min
May 2, 6:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	30 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, 6:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	59 min
May 2, 6:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	58 min
May 2, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	66 min
May 2, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	28 min
May 2, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	54 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 134 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -350 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1399 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 1:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Colbert, Cullman, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin and 14 more	92 min
May 2, 1:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert and 23 more	5 hr
May 2, 4:57 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Chambers and 25 more	93 min
May 2, 5:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler and 37 more	5 hr
May 2, 5:36 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert and 23 more	84 min
May 2, 1:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Rabun	2 hr
May 2, 1:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Banks, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Rabun and 1 more	5 hr
May 2, 3:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Columbia, Glascock, McDuffie, Richmond	5 hr
May 2, 4:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Chattahoochee and 36 more	92 min
May 2, 5:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts and 58 more	6 hr
May 2, 6:17 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Columbia, Glascock, Richmond	88 min
May 2, 2:21 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Choctaw and 33 more	114 min
May 2, 2:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Choctaw and 21 more	6 hr
May 2, 6:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Choctaw and 21 more	119 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Alabama, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Georgia, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Mississippi, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.