Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2012

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 7, 2012Blount County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at May 7, 2012, 3:56 PM CDT for Blount 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
May 7, 2012, 3:56 PM CDT (20:56 UTC)
Expired
May 7, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Storm-based polygon
Flood severity
None

County Blount County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:58 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 86 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2012-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 215 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2012-05-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -17 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
215 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-91 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
950 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-2 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.

088 
WGUS54 KBMX 072056
FFWBMX
ALC009-080000-
/O.NEW.KBMX.FF.W.0009.120507T2056Z-120508T0000Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
356 PM CDT MON MAY 7 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN BLOUNT COUNTY IN ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* AT 353 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDICATED SLOW MOVING     
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED AREA.     
  ONE AND A HALF TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN A VERY SHORT    
  PERIOD OF TIME.  ANOTHER ONE TO TWO INCHES IS POSSIBLE OVER THE    
  NEXT HOUR.

* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO
  OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...     
  ONEONTA...ALLGOOD AND ROSA.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING FLOODING SITUATION. YOU
SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL. STAY HOME UNLESS YOU ARE FORCED TO
EVACUATE TO HIGHER GROUND.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...COUNTRY ROADS...AS WELL AS FARMLAND ALONG THE
BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS.

&&

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...
CALL 1-800-856-0758.

LAT...LON 3404 8635 3384 8640 3382 8643 3382 8646
      3381 8648 3381 8662 3403 8651

$$

27

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 7:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXFayette, Walker41 min
May 6, 7:20 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXJefferson40 min
May 6, 7:44 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXJefferson, Tuscaloosa46 min
May 6, 7:54 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXRandolph51 min
May 6, 8:19 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXPickens41 min
May 6, 8:30 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXShelby45 min
May 6, 9:29 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXChambers46 min
May 6, 9:56 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXWalker49 min
May 6, 10:13 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXLee47 min
May 6, 10:27 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXCalhoun48 min
May 6, 10:41 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXMacon49 min
May 6, 11:26 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXElmore49 min
May 7, 12:54 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXFayette, Lamar51 min
May 7, 1:20 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXPickens40 min
May 7, 1:42 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXMarion48 min
May 7, 1:44 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXFayette, Pickens46 min
May 7, 2:15 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXGreene, Sumter45 min
May 7, 2:29 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXTuscaloosa, Walker46 min
May 7, 2:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXWalker45 min
May 7, 3:05 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXGreene, Hale, Sumter40 min
May 7, 3:15 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXBibb, Blount, Jefferson, Shelby45 min
May 7, 3:54 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXJefferson51 min
May 7, 3:56 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXJefferson49 min
May 7, 4:07 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXBlount, St. Clair38 min
May 7, 4:29 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXShelby, Talladega46 min
May 7, 4:55 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXCalhoun50 min
May 7, 5:16 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementBMXClay, Coosa, Talladega44 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 2012Every 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.