Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 1

January 7, 200525 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 7, 2005, 8:45 PM CST for 25 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 7, 2005, 8:45 PM CST (02:45 UTC)
Expired: Jan 8, 2005, 2:00 AM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 35 counties

Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Clarke County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Perry County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 165 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:46 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

10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 7, 8:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jasper	47 min
Jan 7, 9:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Lamar	52 min
Jan 7, 9:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	51 min
Jan 7, 9:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	59 min
Jan 7, 9:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lauderdale	40 min
Jan 7, 9:24 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Clarke, Jones	66 min
Jan 7, 9:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Forrest	64 min
Jan 7, 9:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens, Sumter	52 min
Jan 7, 10:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Perry	29 min
Jan 7, 11:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	25 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 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -57 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 588 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 323 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 358 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 080253
SEL1  
SPC WW 080245
ALZ000-MSZ000-080800-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 1
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
845 PM CST FRI JAN 7 2005

CORRECTED FOR TIME ZONE CST NOT CDT

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       WESTERN AND PORTIONS OF NORTHERN ALABAMA
       SOUTHEASTERN MISSISSIPPI

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 845 PM UNTIL
200 AM CDT.

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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTH OF BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA TO 50 MILES
SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF LAUREL MISSISSIPPI.

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.

DISCUSSION...SQUALL LINE HAS DEVELOPED ERN MS IN RESPONSE TO RETURN
OF GULF MOISTURE AND RAPIDLY MOVING S/WV TROUGH ACROSS LOWER MS
VALLEY.  STRONG SHEAR PROFILES SUFFICIENT GIVEN VERY WEAK
INSTABILITY TO SUPPORT EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES
ASSOCIATED WITH SQUALL LINE ALONG WITH WIND DAMAGE POTENTIAL.

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 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24040.


...HALES

340,0853 310,0874 310,0895 340,0875

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 7, 8:34 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke and 14 more	26 min
Jan 7, 11:44 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Clarke and 14 more	91 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2005 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2005 Every tornado watch 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.