Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2012

Flash Flood Warning 17, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 22, 2012Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jul 22, 2012, 3:16 AM CDT for Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 22, 2012, 3:16 AM CDT (08:16 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 2012, 6:00 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County Sumter County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:17 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 00:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 1048 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 880 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -8 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.

295 
WGUS54 KBMX 220816
FFWBMX
ALC119-221100-
/O.NEW.KBMX.FF.W.0017.120722T0816Z-120722T1100Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
316 AM CDT SUN JUL 22 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN SUMTER COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 600 AM CDT

* AT 313 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED SLOW MOVING   
THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED AREA. RADAR 
ESTIMATES SHOW THAT MORE THAN 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN ACROSS 
THE MIDDLE OF SUMTER COUNTY SINCE 2 AM. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 INCHES 
OF RAIN IS LIKELY FROM I-20 NORTHWARD BY 400 AM.

* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO
  OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...
  LIVINGSTON...BLUFFPORT...BOYD...EMELLE...EPES...GAINESVILLE AND THE
  UNIVERSITY OF WEST ALABAMA.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODING. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT QUICKLY. DO
NOT ENTER THE WATER. TURN AROUND AND MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO
ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN
WATER BEGINS RISING.

&&

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...
CALL 1-800-856-0758 OR TWEET YOUR REPORT USING HASHTAG ALWX

LAT...LON 3293 8835 3293 8821 3287 8818 3286 8815
      3283 8818 3283 8815 3284 8814 3280 8812
      3271 8810 3269 8811 3268 8809 3257 8807
      3254 8840

$$

61

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 2:47 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Sumter	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 2012 Every flash flood warning in 2012

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.