Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 859
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 23, 2008, 7:40 PM CDT for 19 counties in Alabama; 8 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 23, 2008, 7:40 PM CDT (00:40 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 24, 2008, 3:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 27 counties
Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Chattahoochee County, GA, Harris County, GA, Marion County, GA, Muscogee County, GA, Schley County, GA, Stewart County, GA, Sumter County, GA, Webster County, GA
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
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 1:09 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Russell | 21 min |
| Aug 24, 1:20 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lee, Macon, Russell | 25 min |
| Aug 24, 1:29 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lee, Macon, Russell | 31 min |
| Aug 24, 1:46 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lee, Macon, Tallapoosa | 29 min |
| Aug 24, 2:25 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Barbour, Bullock | 35 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, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 117 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 126 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 579 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 475 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 442 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 23, 7:06 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Crenshaw, Elmore, Henry and 6 more | 84 min |
| Aug 23, 9:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Chilton, Coosa, Crenshaw and 9 more | 92 min |
| Aug 24, 2:00 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Bullock, Chilton, Coosa, Elmore and 7 more | 90 min |
| Aug 24, 2:51 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Chambers, Chilton and 14 more | 4 hr |
| Aug 24, 10:11 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Chambers and 24 more | 2 hr |
| Aug 24, 11:47 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 38 more | 8 hr |
| Aug 24, 2:55 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Chambers and 24 more | 95 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2008Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2008Every 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.