Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2009
Tornado Watch 3
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 6, 2009, 2:03 PM CST for 30 counties in Alabama; 11 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 6, 2009, 2:03 PM CST (20:03 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 6, 2009, 7:00 PM CST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 41 counties
Baldwin County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Dallas County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Perry County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jones County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Marion County, MS, Perry County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 23 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:04 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
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
13 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 6, 2:52 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount, Etowah | 23 min |
| Jan 6, 3:09 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount, Etowah, St. Clair | 4 hr |
| Jan 6, 3:13 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HUN | DeKalb | 6 hr |
| Jan 6, 3:14 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee, Etowah | 31 min |
| Jan 6, 3:20 PM CST | Tornado Warning | HUN | DeKalb | 25 min |
| Jan 6, 3:40 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 4 hr |
| Jan 6, 3:53 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 16 min |
| Jan 6, 4:26 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HUN | Cullman, DeKalb, Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 2 more | 7 hr |
| Jan 6, 4:36 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MOB | Washington | 24 min |
| Jan 6, 5:09 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Fayette, Jefferson, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Tuscaloosa and 2 more | 3 hr |
| Jan 6, 5:27 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne | 33 min |
| Jan 6, 5:49 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay | 26 min |
| Jan 6, 6:56 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount, Etowah, St. Clair | 3 hr |
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 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 22 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
- 163 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 560 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 75 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 240 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 258 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 0.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
205
WWUS20 KWNS 062003
SEL3
SPC WW 062003
ALZ000-MSZ000-070100-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 3
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
205 PM CST TUE JAN 6 2009
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ALABAMA
SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 205 PM UNTIL
700 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 50 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF
GADSDEN ALABAMA TO 210 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA.
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU3).
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.
DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE SLOWLY INCREASING ALONG SURFACE
BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM SOUTHERN MS INTO NORTHEAST AL. WEAK
THERMODYNAMICS WILL LIKELY LIMIT INITIATION AHEAD OF FRONT.
HOWEVER...STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILES INDICATE A RISK OF
SUPERCELLS/BOW STRUCTURES WITH STORMS ALONG BOUNDARY THROUGH THE
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES APPEAR
TO BE THE MAIN THREATS.
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 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25030.
...HARTSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 6, 9:43 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas and 8 more | 2 hr |
| Jan 6, 3:57 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw and 12 more | 93 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2009Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2009Every tornado watch 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.