Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2004
Tornado Warning 28, NWS Huntsville, AL
NWS Huntsville, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 18, 2004, 6:27 PM CDT for Limestone County, Alabama. It was in force for 33 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 18, 2004, 6:27 PM CDT (23:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 18, 2004, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Huntsville, AL
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Limestone County, AL
The radar
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:29 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 6:27 PM CDT | FUNNEL CLOUD | 2 Wsw Lester, AL | NEAR HWY 99. |
| Oct 18, 6:30 PM CDT | TORNADO | Lester, AL | NUMEROUS SPOTTER REPORTS OF ROTATION NEAR LESTER. |
Local storm reports filed while the alert was in force, from inside its polygon or its counties.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 3:20 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 137 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 920 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 198 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 142 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WFUS54 KHUN 182327
TORHUN
ALC083-190000-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
627 PM CDT MON OCT 18 2004
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
LIMESTONE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ALABAMA
* UNTIL 700 PM CDT
* AT 622 PM CDT...AMATEUR RADIO WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO
JUST EAST OF THE LAUDERDALE LIMESTONE COUNTY LINE ALONG HIGHWAY
99...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THIS WARNING EXTENDS THE EARLIER
WARNING.
* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
ARDMORE.
TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO...IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW.
A TORNADO HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. TAKE COVER IN A STURDY BUILDING OR GO
UNDERGROUND NOW. MOBILE HOMES...VEHICLES...AND HIGHWAY OVERPASSES ARE
NOT SAFE
A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT.
LAT...LON 3500 8720 3499 8679 3493 8679 3493 8689
3492 8690 3492 8701 3491 8702 3490 8721
3498 8721
$$
27The office that day
Everything else NWS Huntsville, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 3:35 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Colbert, Lauderdale | 40 min |
| Oct 18, 4:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Colbert, Lauderdale | 40 min |
| Oct 18, 4:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Lauderdale | 48 min |
| Oct 18, 5:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Lauderdale | 47 min |
| Oct 18, 5:53 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Limestone | 37 min |
| Oct 18, 6:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HUN | Lauderdale | 35 min |
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; local storm reports from the same archive; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.