Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 868
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 19, 2004, 6:20 PM CDT for 22 counties in Alabama; 5 counties in Florida; 15 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 19, 2004, 6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 19, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 42 counties
Barbour County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Holmes County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Leake County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Perry County, MS, Scott County, MS, Smith County, MS, Wayne County, MS
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:22 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
9 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19, 6:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Monroe, Wilcox | 37 min |
| Oct 19, 6:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Geneva | 33 min |
| Oct 19, 6:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Newton | 51 min |
| Oct 19, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Conecuh, Monroe | 32 min |
| Oct 19, 7:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke | 22 min |
| Oct 19, 7:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Monroe | 30 min |
| Oct 19, 7:53 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Conecuh | 22 min |
| Oct 19, 8:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Leake | 28 min |
| Oct 19, 9:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Houston | 23 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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 177 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
- 1233 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 574 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 48 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 123 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 4.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 192326
SEL8
SPC WW 192320
ALZ000-FLZ000-MSZ000-200300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 868
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
620 PM CDT TUE OCT 19 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTHERN ALABAMA
FLORIDA PANHANDLE
EASTERN MISSISSIPPI
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY EVENING FROM 620 PM UNTIL 1000 PM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAUREL MISSISSIPPI TO
20 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DOTHAN 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 866...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 867. WATCH NUMBER 866 867
WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 620 PM CDT.
DISCUSSION...STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING ALONG
OUTFLOW BOUNDARY THAT STRETCHES FROM NORTH OF JAN SEWD TO NEAR MEI
AND DHN. ALTHOUGH DEEP WLY WINDS ARE LOCATED ABOVE THE BOUNDARY
LAYER...LOW LEVEL SHEAR NEAR THE BOUNDARY AND A MODERATELY UNSTABLE
AIR MASS IS FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS WITH SEVERE HAIL. TORNADOES ARE
ALSO POSSIBLE...THOUGH THE THREAT WILL SLOWLY DIMINISH DURING THE
EVENING AS THE BOUNDARY LAYER SLOWLY COOLS/STABILIZES.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 29025.
...IMY
330,0894 315,0851 301,0851 311,0894SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 7:10 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Lamar and 8 more | 4 hr |
| Oct 18, 10:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Limestone | 117 min |
| Oct 18, 10:55 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 1 more | 5 hr |
| Oct 19, 2:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and 2 more | 86 min |
| Oct 19, 3:34 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence and 4 more | 26 min |
| Oct 19, 3:50 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin and 9 more | 4 hr |
| Oct 19, 7:08 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson and 6 more | 2 hr |
| Oct 19, 9:05 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay and 20 more | 7 hr |
| Oct 19, 11:06 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh and 10 more | 84 min |
| Oct 19, 12:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee and 16 more | 7 hr |
| Oct 19, 1:15 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay and 20 more | 90 min |
| Oct 19, 3:08 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 43 more | 67 min |
| Oct 19, 3:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Dallas and 16 more | 6 hr |
| Oct 19, 5:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 13 more | 117 min |
| Oct 18, 9:09 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alcorn, Benton | 2 hr |
| Oct 19, 1:35 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Amite, Franklin, Hancock, Issaquena, Jefferson and 3 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2004Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2004Tornado Watches in Florida, 2004Every tornado watch 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.