Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 31

January 31, 200817 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 31, 2008, 4:34 PM CST for 17 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Florida. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 31, 2008, 4:34 PM CST (22:34 UTC)
Expired: Feb 1, 2008, 1:00 AM CST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 27 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:36 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 31, 4:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile, Washington	61 min
Jan 31, 4:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	47 min
Jan 31, 5:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Clarke, Washington	45 min
Jan 31, 5:24 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Clarke, Mobile, Washington	37 min
Jan 31, 5:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and 1 more	61 min
Jan 31, 5:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Monroe, Washington, Wilcox	65 min
Jan 31, 6:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh, Monroe	35 min
Jan 31, 6:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia, Monroe and 1 more	61 min
Jan 31, 7:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Coffee	51 min
Jan 31, 7:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington, Crenshaw	45 min
Jan 31, 8:08 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Escambia, Mobile	2 hr
Jan 31, 8:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh, Covington, Escambia	49 min
Jan 31, 9:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington, Crenshaw	32 min
Jan 31, 10:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington, Escambia	51 min
Jan 31, 11:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Houston	43 min
Jan 31, 11:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Geneva	19 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

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 890 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 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 312233
SEL1  
SPC WW 312233
ALZ000-FLZ000-CWZ000-010500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 31
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
435 PM CST THU JAN 31 2008

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

       SOUTHERN ALABAMA
       WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 435 PM UNTIL
1100 PM 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 APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 70 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF PANAMA
CITY FLORIDA TO 35 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MOBILE ALABAMA.  FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).

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 30...

DISCUSSION...LINE OF STRONG/SEVERE STORMS OVER LA/MS WILL TRACK
EASTWARD THIS EVENING...WHILE DEEPENING SURFACE LOW DEVELOPS
NORTHEASTWARD INTO CENTRAL AL.  VERY STRONG LOW LEVEL VERTICAL SHEAR
PROFILES ARE IN PLACE ACROSS THE WATCH AREA...BUT RICH GULF MOISTURE
HAS YET TO MOVE INLAND OVER AL.  THIS SHOULD CHANGE THROUGH THE
EVENING AS SURFACE WINDS BECOME SOUTHERLY IN WARM SECTOR. 
SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE
THROUGH AT LEAST 05Z.

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 27030.


...HART

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2008 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2008 Every tornado watch in 2008

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.