Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 860
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 24, 2008, 2:51 AM CDT for 20 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 24, 2008, 2:51 AM CDT (07:51 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 24, 2008, 6:54 AM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lee County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Russell County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 29 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:53 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 10%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- 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
- 20%
Warnings issued inside it
2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 3:22 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers, Lee | 23 min |
| Aug 24, 3:58 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Russell | 17 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, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 31 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, 7:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Chilton and 13 more | 7 hr |
| 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, 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
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.