Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Huntsville, AL

May 31, 2004Colbert County, Franklin County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this tornado warning at May 31, 2004, 12:06 AM CDT for Colbert County, Franklin County, Alabama. It was in force for 24 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: May 31, 2004, 12:06 AM CDT (05:06 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2004, 12:30 AM CDT
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Huntsville, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Colbert County, AL, Franklin County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:09 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 30, 9:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 187 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: 1655 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1411 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 9.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

617 
WFUS54 KHUN 310506
TORHUN
ALC033-059-310530-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1206 AM CDT MON MAY 31 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  COLBERT COUNTY IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA
  FRANKLIN COUNTY IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA

* UNTIL 1230 AM CDT

* AT 1205 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER BELGREEN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  BELGREEN.
  LITTLEVILLE.

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO...IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW.

LAT...LON 3455 8804 3442 8789 3467 8755 3483 8775

$$ 


SCHAUB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 11:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	34 min
May 31, 12:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Franklin	29 min
May 31, 12:02 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lauderdale	28 min
May 31, 12:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Lawrence, Limestone	44 min
May 31, 12:50 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Limestone, Morgan	25 min
May 31, 12:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Madison	37 min
May 31, 12:57 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Madison	33 min
May 31, 1:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Jackson	45 min
May 31, 1:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Marshall	40 min

Nearby

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