Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 172

April 25, 200316 counties in Alabama; 12 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 25, 2003, 5:40 PM CDT for 16 counties in Alabama; 12 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 25, 2003, 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired: Apr 25, 2003, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 28 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Marion County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS

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
Apr 25, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	63 min
Apr 25, 5:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest	30 min
Apr 25, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Bullock, Russell	45 min
Apr 25, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lamar	30 min
Apr 25, 6:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	39 min
Apr 25, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	35 min
Apr 25, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	33 min
Apr 25, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	48 min
Apr 25, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Greene, Perry	58 min
Apr 25, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Montgomery	25 min
Apr 25, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest	46 min
Apr 25, 6:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lamar	47 min
Apr 25, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	63 min
Apr 25, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock, Macon	45 min
Apr 25, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Montgomery	45 min
Apr 25, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pike	33 min
Apr 25, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour	62 min
Apr 25, 7:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Pearl River	28 min
Apr 25, 7:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pike	24 min
Apr 25, 7:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Greene, Perry	39 min
Apr 25, 7:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	23 min
Apr 25, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock	31 min
Apr 25, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	George	45 min
Apr 25, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	25 min
Apr 25, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh, Monroe	25 min
Apr 25, 7:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pike	32 min
Apr 25, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	46 min
Apr 25, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Hancock, Pearl River	30 min
Apr 25, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour	48 min
Apr 25, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	45 min
Apr 25, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pike	32 min
Apr 25, 8:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	47 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, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 205 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 264 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 299 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 252241
SEL2  
SPC WW 252240
ALZ000-FLZ000-MSZ000-260400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 172 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
540 PM CDT FRI APR 25 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       SOUTHERN ALABAMA
       EXTREME WESTERN FLORIDA
       SOUTHEASTERN MISSISSIPPI

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 540 PM UNTIL 
1100 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAUREL MISSISSIPPI TO
35 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF AUBURN ALABAMA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 168. WATCH NUMBER 168... WILL NOT BE IN
EFFECT AFTER 540 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 166...WW 167...WW 169...WW
170...WW 171...


DISCUSSION...DEEP LAYER SHEAR OF 50 TO 60 KTS AND MLCAPES TO 2000
J/KG ARE FAVORABLE FOR NUMEROUS SUPERCELLS TO PERSIST INTO THE
EVENING. THE INSTABILITY AND SHEAR SUGGESTS LARGE DIAL WILL BE THE
MAIN THREAT...THOUGH THE LOW LEVEL SHEAR IS ALSO SUFFICIENT FOR A
FEW TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORDADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27035.


...IMY

314,0894 324,0851 313,0851 303,0894

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 25, 1:15 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Pickens and 2 more	90 min
Apr 25, 3:05 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh and 17 more	85 min
Apr 25, 5:40 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva and 2 more	65 min
Apr 25, 6:05 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Coffee, Covington, Geneva, Houston	6 hr
Apr 25, 7:41 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Houston	94 min
Apr 25, 11:04 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Marion, Winston	116 min
Apr 25, 12:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 45 more	5 hr
Apr 25, 12:59 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Choctaw, Coosa and 15 more	2 hr
Apr 25, 3:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers and 24 more	2 hr
Apr 25, 5:16 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Chilton and 15 more	59 min
Apr 24, 7:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke and 35 more	4 hr
Apr 24, 9:03 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bolivar, Coahoma, DeSoto, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie and 1 more	117 min
Apr 24, 10:51 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke and 35 more	84 min
Apr 24, 11:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll and 49 more	5 hr
Apr 25, 2:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Amite, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene and 13 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2003 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2003 Every tornado 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.