Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Huntsville, AL

September 16, 2004DeKalb County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this tornado warning at Sep 16, 2004, 2:44 PM CDT for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 21 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
Sep 16, 2004, 2:44 PM CDT (19:44 UTC)
Expired
Sep 16, 2004, 3:05 PM CDT
In force
21 min
Issued by
NWS Huntsville, AL
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County DeKalb County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:44 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 16, 9:45 AM CDTTornado WatchSPC10 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 167 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2004-09-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 417 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2004-09-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 277 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
417 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
590 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
277 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
424 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
4.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHUN 161944
TORHUN
ALC049-162005-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
244 PM CDT THU SEP 16 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN DEKALB COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 305 PM CDT

* AT 243 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
TORNADO 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FORT PAYNE...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 50 
MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  FORT PAYNE.
  POWELL.

THIS STORM SHOWS STRONG ROTATION...AND MAY PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY
TIME. DO NOT WAIT...GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW PUT AS MANY WALLS AS
POSSIBLE BETWEEN YOU AND THE STORM.

LAT...LON 3432 8574 3445 8555 3471 8571 3452 8595
$$ 
JDG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Huntsville, AL issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 16, 12:37 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNCullman9 hr
Sep 16, 1:56 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNMarshall6 hr
Sep 16, 1:56 PM CDTTornado WarningHUNDeKalb19 min
Sep 16, 2:20 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNDeKalb6 hr
Sep 16, 2:55 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNJackson6 hr
Sep 16, 3:15 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNMadison6 hr
Sep 16, 4:02 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNLawrence, Limestone, Morgan6 hr
Sep 16, 5:16 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHUNColbert, Franklin, Lauderdale5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2004Every tornado warning in 2004Tornadoes in 2004

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.