Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2006

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Mobile, AL

March 20, 2006Wilcox County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 20, 2006, 5:25 PM CST for Wilcox County, Alabama. It was in force for 26 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 20, 2006, 5:25 PM CST (23:25 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 2006, 5:51 PM CST
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wilcox County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:26 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 20, 3:09 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 1211 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 297 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 405 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 KMOB 202326
TORMOB
ALC131-210015-
/O.NEW.KMOB.TO.W.0016.060320T2325Z-060321T0015Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
525 PM CST MON MAR 20 2006

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  WILCOX COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ALABAMA

* UNTIL 615 PM CST

* AT 524 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR          
  THOMASVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 65 MPH.

* THE TORNADO PRODUCING STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PINE HILL AND KIMBROUGH BY 530 PM CST
  YELLOW BLUFF AND COAL BLUFF BY 535 PM CST
  ROCKWEST AND CANTON BEND BY 540 PM CST
  CAMDEN AND BOYKIN BY 545 PM CST

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS DANGEROUS STORM...ABANDON VEHICLES AND
MOBILE HOMES AND SEEK A REINFORCED SHELTER. MOVE TO THE LOWEST FLOOR
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR CLOSET. COVER YOUR BODY WITH BLANKETS OR PILLOWS.

IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH OR LOW
SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CST MONDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.

LAT...LON 3214 8761 3196 8766 3184 8761 3184 8692
      3224 8691

$$

2 follow-up statements

000 
WWUS54 KMOB 202333
SVSMOB

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
533 PM CST MON MAR 20 2006

ALC131-210015-
/O.CON.KMOB.TO.W.0016.000000T0000Z-060321T0015Z/
WILCOX AL-
533 PM CST MON MAR 20 2006

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 615 PM CST FOR WILCOX COUNTY...

AT 532 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO
INDICATE A TORNADO.  THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR PINE HILL...OR
ABOUT 17 MILES WEST OF CAMDEN...MOVING EAST AT 65 MPH.

THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  CANTON BEND...ROCKWEST AND MILLERS FERRY BY 540 PM CST
  BOYKIN AND CAMDEN BY 545 PM CST
  ACKERVILLE BY 555 PM CST

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

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CST MONDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.

LAT...LON 3214 8761 3196 8766 3184 8761 3184 8692
      3224 8691

$$

000 
WWUS54 KMOB 202351
SVSMOB

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
550 PM CST MON MAR 20 2006

ALC131-210000-
/O.CAN.KMOB.TO.W.0016.000000T0000Z-060321T0015Z/
WILCOX AL-
550 PM CST MON MAR 20 2006

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR WILCOX COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

THE STORM WEAKENED BELOW SEVERE LIMITS AS IT PASSED EAST OF THE PINE 
HILL AREA.  OTHER STRONG...BUT NOT SEVERE...STORMS ARE MOVING ACROSS 
WESTERN WILCOX COUNTY.  THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS AROUND 
50 MPH...SMALL HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAINS AS THEY MOVE EAST THROUGH 
THE PINE HILL...CAMDEN AREAS THROUGH 630 PM.  

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CST MONDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.

LAT...LON 3214 8761 3196 8766 3184 8761 3184 8692
      3224 8691

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 1:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	31 min
Mar 20, 4:33 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Washington	42 min
Mar 20, 4:56 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	49 min
Mar 20, 5:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke, Washington	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2006 Every tornado warning in 2006 Tornadoes in 2006

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.