Alert archive / Alabama / Red Flag Warnings in 2011

Red Flag Warning 5, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 15, 201125 counties in Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this red flag warning at Feb 15, 2011, 1:06 PM CST for 25 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 5 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 15, 2011, 1:06 PM CST (19:06 UTC)
Expired: Feb 15, 2011, 6:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL

All 25 counties

Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:04 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 57 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: 3290 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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.

921 
WWUS84 KBMX 151906
RFWBMX

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
106 PM CST TUE FEB 15 2011

...DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON...

.CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER PARAMETERS WILL BE MET FOR 4 HOURS THIS
AFTERNOON.

ALZ015-017-023>027-032>038-040>050-160000-
/O.NEW.KBMX.FW.W.0005.110215T1906Z-110216T0000Z/
WALKER-BLOUNT-TUSCALOOSA-JEFFERSON-SHELBY-ST. CLAIR-TALLADEGA-
HALE-PERRY-BIBB-CHILTON-COOSA-TALLAPOOSA-CHAMBERS-DALLAS-AUTAUGA-
LOWNDES-ELMORE-MONTGOMERY-MACON-BULLOCK-LEE-RUSSELL-PIKE-BARBOUR-
106 PM CST TUE FEB 15 2011

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING. 

RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL DROP BELOW 25 PERCENT FOR 4 HOURS THIS
AFTERNOON. SURFACE DEWPOINTS HAVE FALLEN INTO THE 20S AND WILL
REMAIN THERE. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL. 

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE FIRE CONDITIONS...PLEASE
CONTACT THE ALABAMA FORESTRY COMMISSION AT
WWW.FORESTRY.ALABAMA.GOV.

&&

$$

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Alabama, 2011 Every red flag warning in 2011

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.