Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 288
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 7, 2003, 3:00 PM CDT for 36 counties in Alabama; Lowndes County, Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 7, 2003, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties
Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson 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, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Lowndes County, MS
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
40 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 3:05 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Talladega | 4 hr |
| May 7, 3:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson, St. Clair | 40 min |
| May 7, 3:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Talladega | 34 min |
| May 7, 3:13 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 4 hr |
| May 7, 3:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Randolph | 62 min |
| May 7, 3:26 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Clay | 4 hr |
| May 7, 3:35 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Perry | 25 min |
| May 7, 3:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Talladega | 54 min |
| May 7, 3:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay | 68 min |
| May 7, 3:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 60 min |
| May 7, 3:50 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Randolph | 4 hr |
| May 7, 3:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 32 min |
| May 7, 4:04 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 4 hr |
| May 7, 4:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Randolph | 51 min |
| May 7, 4:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Sumter | 66 min |
| May 7, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 65 min |
| May 7, 4:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay, Cleburne, Randolph, Talladega | 52 min |
| May 7, 4:35 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 4 hr |
| May 7, 4:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 39 min |
| May 7, 4:38 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 4 hr |
| May 7, 4:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 56 min |
| May 7, 4:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marengo | 55 min |
| May 7, 4:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 36 min |
| May 7, 5:08 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Randolph | 52 min |
| May 7, 5:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 42 min |
| May 7, 5:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay | 43 min |
| May 7, 5:46 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Talladega | 44 min |
| May 7, 5:51 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marengo | 54 min |
| May 7, 5:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Randolph | 50 min |
| May 7, 5:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb, Tuscaloosa | 33 min |
| May 7, 6:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay, Coosa, Tallapoosa | 48 min |
| May 7, 6:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 47 min |
| May 7, 6:41 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Randolph | 34 min |
| May 7, 7:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 18 min |
| May 7, 7:04 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Talladega | 4 hr |
| May 7, 7:11 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 4 hr |
| May 7, 7:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| May 7, 7:22 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Clay, Randolph | 4 hr |
| May 7, 8:37 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 3 hr |
| May 7, 8:44 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 3 hr |
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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 49 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1457 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 538 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 178 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 236 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.3
- Supercell composite
- 6.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WWUS20 KWNS 072005 SEL8 SPC WW 072000 ALZ000-080200- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 288 CORR 1 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 300 PM CDT WED MAY 7 2003 CORRECTED TO ADD REPLACEMENT WATCH INFORMATION CORRECTED TO ADD REPLACEMENT WATCH INFORMATION THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ALABAMA EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 300 PM UNTIL 900 PM CDT. TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 70 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TUSCALOOSA ALABAMA TO 25 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST 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 TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 284. WATCH NUMBER 284 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 300 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 285...WW 286...WW 287... DISCUSSION...SEVERAL POTENTIALLY TORNADIC SUPERCELLS CONTINUE MOVING EWD ACROSS CENTRAL AL ATTM. FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IS PERSISTING OVER E-CENTRAL AND SERN MS WHICH IS ALSO SHIFTING ESEWD. GIVEN THE MAGNITUDE OF INSTABILITY AND LACK OF SUBSTANTIAL CAPPING ACROSS THE WARM SECTOR...FURTHER DEVELOPMENT SHOULD OCCUR THROUGH THE EVENING WITH A THREAT OF ISOLATED TORNADOES. AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 28030. ...EVANS 333,0882 340,0851 315,0851 312,0882
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 11:32 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Jackson, Limestone, Madison | 88 min |
| May 6, 11:50 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan | 6 hr |
| May 7, 1:41 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 1 more | 3 hr |
| May 7, 4:55 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Lauderdale | 6 hr |
| May 7, 7:06 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Cullman, Fayette, Franklin, Jackson, Lamar and 8 more | 114 min |
| May 7, 7:35 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Blount, Colbert, Cullman, Fayette, Franklin, Greene and 16 more | 5 hr |
| May 7, 10:24 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton and 20 more | 2 hr |
| May 7, 10:35 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton and 23 more | 5 hr |
| May 7, 10:50 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Sumter | 5 hr |
| May 7, 1:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Baldwin, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 14 more | 2 hr |
| May 7, 2:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Russell | 6 hr |
| May 7, 6:29 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 32 more | 91 min |
| May 6, 7:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke and 36 more | 5 hr |
| May 6, 9:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Attala, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke and 32 more | 97 min |
| May 7, 2:27 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Attala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw and 36 more | 3 hr |
| May 7, 9:47 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Attala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw and 25 more | 118 min |
| May 7, 1:54 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clay, Hinds and 23 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2003Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2003Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.