Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 891
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 23, 2004, 9:20 PM CST for 19 counties in Alabama; 4 counties in Mississippi; 9 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Nov 23, 2004, 9:20 PM CST (03:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Nov 24, 2004, 4:00 AM CST
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 32 counties
Blount County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Itawamba County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Grundy County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Marion County, TN, Moore County, TN, Wayne County, TN
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:22 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
15 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 23, 9:27 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 63 min |
| Nov 23, 9:48 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 42 min |
| Nov 23, 10:05 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Franklin | 25 min |
| Nov 23, 10:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 59 min |
| Nov 23, 10:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Colbert | 29 min |
| Nov 23, 10:38 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Lawrence | 37 min |
| Nov 23, 11:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Itawamba, Monroe | 30 min |
| Nov 24, 12:04 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Marion | 116 min |
| Nov 24, 12:12 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HUN | Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan | 6 hr |
| Nov 24, 12:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN | Franklin | 46 min |
| Nov 24, 12:43 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Lamar | 2 hr |
| Nov 24, 12:48 AM CST | Tornado Warning | HUN | Franklin | 27 min |
| Nov 24, 3:08 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 3 hr |
| Nov 24, 3:35 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Tuscaloosa | 3 hr |
| Nov 24, 3:51 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cherokee, Etowah | 3 hr |
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 00:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 128 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
- 748 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -25 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 728 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 84 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 342 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 240321
SEL1
SPC WW 240320
ALZ000-TNZ000-241000-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 891
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
920 PM CST TUE NOV 23 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN ALABAMA
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 920 PM
UNTIL 400 AM CST.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTH OF HUNTSVILLE ALABAMA TO 50 MILES
WEST SOUTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM 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...CONTINUE...WW 887...WW 888...WW 889...WW
890...
DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE CIRCULATION CENTER EMBEDDED WITHIN/PRECEDING
RAIN SHIELD OVER NRN MS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ENE INTO NRN AL/MIDDLE
TN LATER TONIGHT. COMBINATION OF SLOWLY STRENGTHENING WIND FIELD
OVER REGION ...AND GRADUAL BOUNDARY LAYER AIR MASS RECOVERY...WILL
SUPPORT THREAT FOR A FEW EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS. THESE MAY YIELD SHORT
LIVED TORNADOES AND/OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.
...CORFIDI
352,0852 331,0861 331,0885 352,0880SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 23, 9:00 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin and 10 more | 2 hr |
| Nov 23, 11:16 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Cullman and 14 more | 119 min |
| Nov 24, 12:30 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke and 12 more | 30 min |
| Nov 24, 12:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Greene and 7 more | 5 hr |
| Nov 24, 2:43 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Pickens and 3 more | 62 min |
| Nov 24, 3:35 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Cullman and 11 more | 25 min |
| Nov 24, 3:55 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Cullman, Etowah and 5 more | 5 hr |
| Nov 24, 4:57 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh and 13 more | 63 min |
| Nov 24, 5:20 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Butler, Chambers, Chilton and 20 more | 6 hr |
| Nov 24, 7:11 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers and 24 more | 64 min |
| Nov 24, 7:25 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Chambers, Lee, Russell | 6 hr |
| Nov 24, 8:03 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry and 2 more | 57 min |
| Nov 24, 8:30 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston | 6 hr |
| Nov 24, 9:23 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Chambers, Lee, Russell | 97 min |
| Nov 24, 11:24 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston | 2 hr |
| Nov 23, 6:35 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw and 28 more | 7 hr |
| Nov 23, 7:53 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds and 13 more | 37 min |
| Nov 23, 8:15 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds and 15 more | 6 hr |
| Nov 23, 9:14 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Claiborne, Franklin, Hinds, Humphreys, Issaquena and 5 more | 2 hr |
| Nov 23, 10:01 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Issaquena and 4 more | 119 min |
| Nov 24, 1:28 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds and 14 more | 32 min |
| Nov 24, 1:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Amite, Attala, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin and 15 more | 4 hr |
| Nov 24, 2:50 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Hancock, Harrison, Jackson | 3 hr |
| Nov 24, 5:35 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Hancock, Harrison, Jackson | 25 min |
| Nov 24, 5:55 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Harrison, Jackson | 2 hr |
| Nov 24, 10:16 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alcorn, Benton, Lafayette, Marshall, Prentiss, Tippah and 1 more | 2 hr |
| Nov 24, 11:30 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bedford, Benton, Carroll, Cheatham, Davidson, Decatur and 22 more | 6 hr |
| Nov 24, 12:55 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bedford, Benton, Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, Decatur and 29 more | 95 min |
| Nov 24, 2:56 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bedford, Benton, Cannon, Cheatham, Coffee, Davidson and 28 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2004Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2004Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 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.