Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 8

February 15, 200325 counties in Alabama

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 15, 2003, 5:40 PM CST for 25 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 15, 2003, 5:40 PM CST (23:40 UTC)
Expired: Feb 15, 2003, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:39 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 15, 7:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	50 min
Feb 15, 7:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	62 min
Feb 15, 7:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Tuscaloosa	54 min
Feb 15, 8:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	49 min
Feb 15, 8:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale, Marengo, Perry	55 min
Feb 15, 9:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	41 min
Feb 15, 9:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton, Dallas, Perry	66 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, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 451 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 152341
SEL8
SPC WW 152340
ALZ000-160400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 8
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
540 PM CST SAT FEB 15 2003

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

   WESTERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 540 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO
70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 80 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF SELMA ALABAMA TO 45
MILES NORTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM 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...  CONTINUE...WW 7...

DISCUSSION...SUB-SYNOPTIC SURFACE LOW CONTINUES TO TRACK NEWD
ACROSS E-CENTRAL MS EARLY THIS EVENING.  A SQUALL LINE WHICH HAS
MAINTAINED SEVERAL SMALL CIRCULATIONS AND HAS A HISTORY OF ISOLATED
WIND DAMAGE ACROSS CENTRAL MS CONTINUES MOVING ENEWD TOWARDS WRN
AL.  THOUGH LOSS OF HEATING WILL WEAKEN CAPES OVER AL AFTER
SUNSET...SMALL-SCALE ENHANCEMENTS OF LOW LEVEL SHEAR SHOULD SUPPORT
A THREAT OF WIND DAMAGE AND/OR BRIEF TORNADOES FOR A FEW MORE
HOURS.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH...EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...EVANS

311,0882 340,0881 340,0862 311,0863

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 15, 5:18 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Cullman and 21 more	117 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.