Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 2009

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Huntsville, AL

April 2, 2009Madison County, Alabama

NWS Huntsville, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 2, 2009, 8:20 PM CDT for Madison County, Alabama. It was in force for 25 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 2, 2009, 8:20 PM CDT (01:20 UTC)
Expired: Apr 2, 2009, 8:45 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Huntsville, AL
Area: Storm-based polygon

County Madison County, AL

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:20 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
Apr 2, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 177 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: 197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 80 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 363 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Apr 2, 6:48 PM CDT, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 2, 6:48 PM CDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 2, 12:52 PM CDT, 7 hours 28 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1252 PM CDT THU APR 2 2009

ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-031000-
LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN-
MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN-
1252 PM CDT THU APR 2 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF
SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT...

A VIGOROUS STORM SYSTEM WILL IMPACT THE TENNESSEE VALLEY THROUGH THE
EVENING. AS WARM...MOIST AND INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AIR MOVES ACROSS
THE AREA...SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED FROM THE
MID AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME
SEVERE WITH TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND ISOLATED
FLASH FLOODING ARE ALL POSSIBLE THREATS.

THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL END ACROSS NORTHEAST ALABAMA BY THE LATE
EVENING...AS A COLD FRONT MOVES EAST OF THE REGION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON SUNDAY AS A COLD FRONT
TRACKS ACROSS THE REGION.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS
LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

JLL/RSB

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:22 PM CDT, 1 hour 58 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 55 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:33 PM CDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:53 PM CDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

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Local storm report, Apr 2, 6:55 PM CDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 2, 7:02 PM CDT	Areal Flood Warning	HUN	Lawrence	4 hr
Apr 2, 7:05 PM CDT	Flood Watch	HUN	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more	3 hr
Apr 2, 7:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Limestone, Madison, Morgan	3 hr
Apr 2, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin	27 min
Apr 2, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Madison	37 min
Apr 2, 8:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Jackson	41 min
Apr 2, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Jackson	25 min
Apr 3, 12:44 AM CDT	River Flood Warning	HUN	Madison	30 hr
Apr 3, 7:45 AM CDT	Areal Flood Warning	HUN	Madison	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 2009 Every tornado warning in 2009 Tornadoes in 2009

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.