Alert archive / California / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Sacramento, CA

November 9, 2003Solano County, Yolo County, California

NWS Sacramento, CA issued this tornado warning at Nov 9, 2003, 12:39 PM PST for Solano County, Yolo County, California. It was in force for 31 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: Nov 9, 2003, 12:39 PM PST (20:39 UTC)
Expired: Nov 9, 2003, 1:10 PM PST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Sacramento, CA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Solano County, CA, Yolo County, CA

The radar

The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:40 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

Oakland, CA (KOAK), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 88 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: 456 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 726 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS56 KSTO 092039
TORSTO
CAC095-113-092110-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
1239 PM PST SUN NOV 9 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN SOLANO COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA
  SOUTHEASTERN YOLO COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA

* VALID UNTIL 110 PM PST

* AT 1230 PM PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  POSSIBLE TORNADO 5 MILES EAST OF DIXON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 
  MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THIS WARNING INCLUDE...
  SOUTH DAVIS
  RURAL AREAS SOUTH OF DAVIS

* SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY BUILDING IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS 
  STORM.

LAT...LON 3831 12180 3839 12157 3864 12160 3852 12192

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sacramento, CA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 9, 6:20 AM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Butte, Yuba	25 min
Nov 9, 1:11 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Sacramento, Solano, Yolo	49 min
Nov 9, 1:21 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Glenn	39 min
Nov 9, 1:50 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Butte, Glenn, Tehama	55 min
Nov 9, 2:02 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Sacramento, Yolo	43 min
Nov 9, 2:18 PM PST	Tornado Warning	STO	Glenn, Tehama	27 min
Nov 9, 2:42 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Sacramento, San Joaquin	48 min
Nov 9, 2:48 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	STO	Butte, Tehama	32 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in California, 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.