Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2005

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 13, 2005Pickens County, Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 13, 2005, 7:14 PM CST for Pickens County, Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 31 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: Mar 13, 2005, 7:14 PM CST (01:14 UTC)
Expired: Mar 13, 2005, 7:45 PM CST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Pickens County, AL, Sumter County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:18 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
Mar 13, 2:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	8 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 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.

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: 491 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KBMX 140114
TORBMX
ALC107-119-140145-
/O.NEW.KBMX.TO.W.0002.050314T0114Z-050314T0145Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
714 PM CST SUN MAR 13 2005

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN PICKENS COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA
  NORTHERN SUMTER COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 745 PM CST

* AT 708 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 14 MILES WEST OF
  COCHRANE...OR ABOUT 20 MILES WEST OF ALICEVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 40
  MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL OTHERWISE REMAIN OVER MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF THE
  INDICATED COUNTIES.

IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO...THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING 
GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL AND DESTRUCTIVE STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...
CALL 1 800...8 5 6...0 7 5 8.

LAT...LON 3310 8833 3294 8835 3288 8818 3301 8817
      3306 8809

$$

61

2 follow-up statements

000 
WWUS54 KBMX 140127
SVSBMX

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
726 PM CST SUN MAR 13 2005

ALC107-119-140145-
/O.CON.KBMX.TO.W.0002.000000T0000Z-050314T0145Z/
SUMTER AL-PICKENS AL-
726 PM CST SUN MAR 13 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 745 PM CST FOR SOUTHWESTERN
PICKENS AND NORTH CENTRAL SUMTER COUNTIES...

TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO JUST ACROSS THE STATE 
LINE IN MISSISSIPPI.  AT 723 PM...THIS LIKELY TORNADO WAS LOCATED 
NEAR COCHRANE...OR ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF ALICEVILLE...MOVING EAST 
AT 40 MPH.

THE TORNADO WILL MOVE ALONG THE PICKENS AND SUMTER COUNTY LINE.

DO NOT USE HIGHWAY OVERPASSES FOR SHELTER. OVERPASSES DO NOT PROVIDE
PROTECTION FROM TORNADIC WINDS. VEHICLES STOPPED UNDER BRIDGES BLOCK
TRAFFIC AND PREVENT PEOPLE FROM GETTING OUT OF THE STORMS PATH AND
TO SHELTER. IF YOU CANNOT DRIVE AWAY FROM THE TORNADO...GET OUT OF
YOUR VEHICLE AND LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AS A LAST RESORT.

LAT...LON 3310 8833 3294 8835 3288 8818 3301 8817
      3306 8809

$$

61

000 
WWUS54 KBMX 140143
SVSBMX

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
743 PM CST SUN MAR 13 2005

ALC107-119-140153-
/O.EXP.KBMX.TO.W.0002.000000T0000Z-050314T0145Z/
SUMTER AL-PICKENS AL-
743 PM CST SUN MAR 13 2005

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHERN PICKENS AND NORTHERN SUMTER 
COUNTIES EXPIRES AT 745 PM CST...

THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED. THE STORMS THAT PROMPTED THE
WARNING HAVE MOVED OUT OF THE COUNTY.

LAT...LON 3310 8833 3294 8835 3288 8818 3301 8817
      3306 8809

$$

61

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 13, 6:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	36 min
Mar 13, 6:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	41 min
Mar 13, 6:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	61 min
Mar 13, 7:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	44 min
Mar 13, 7:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	47 min
Mar 13, 7:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount	41 min
Mar 13, 7:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	28 min
Mar 13, 7:35 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	40 min
Mar 13, 7:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	St. Clair	39 min
Mar 13, 7:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb	67 min
Mar 13, 7:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	36 min
Mar 13, 8:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	43 min
Mar 13, 8:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun	41 min
Mar 13, 8:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	35 min
Mar 13, 8:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	49 min
Mar 13, 9:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	26 min
Mar 13, 10:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pickens	31 min
Mar 13, 10:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga, Chilton	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2005 Every tornado warning in 2005 Tornadoes in 2005

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.