Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 134

April 6, 200514 counties in Alabama

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 6, 2005, 5:20 PM CDT for 14 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 6, 2005, 5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)
Expired: Apr 7, 2005, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Bibb County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Marion County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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
Apr 6, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	66 min
Apr 6, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	48 min
Apr 6, 5:48 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Lamar	3 hr
Apr 6, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	41 min
Apr 6, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	54 min
Apr 6, 10:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	23 min
Apr 6, 11:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	40 min
Apr 6, 11:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale	47 min
Apr 6, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	44 min
Apr 7, 12:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale, Marengo	45 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 72 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1203 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 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 062220
SEL4  
SPC WW 062220
ALZ000-070600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 134
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
520 PM CDT WED APR 6 2005

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

       WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 520
PM UNTIL 100 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES NORTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM
ALABAMA TO 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CENTREVILLE ALABAMA.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).

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 131...WW 132...WW 133...

DISCUSSION...LINES/CLUSTERS OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL MS
WILL TRACK EASTWARD INTO CENTRAL AL DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS. 
STORMS WILL BE INTERACTING WITH SURFACE WARM FRONT...WHERE ENHANCED
LOW LEVEL VERTICAL SHEAR AND CONVERGENCE MAY AID IN THE RISK OF
ISOLATED TORNADOES.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...HART

341,0864 324,0863 324,0881 341,0882

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 6, 7:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Choctaw, Greene, Mobile, Pickens, Sumter, Washington	6 hr
Apr 6, 9:29 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Choctaw, Greene, Mobile, Pickens, Sumter, Washington	2 hr
Apr 6, 10:50 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 9 more	55 min
Apr 6, 11:05 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 20 more	8 hr
Apr 6, 1:21 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 20 more	84 min
Apr 6, 3:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 20 more	92 min
Apr 6, 4:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Colbert, Coosa, Cullman and 19 more	37 min
Apr 6, 6:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 21 more	59 min
Apr 6, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Butler, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke and 20 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 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.