Alert archive / Alabama / Special Weather Statements in 2012

Special Weather Statement, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 21, 2012Marion County, Winston County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this special weather statement at Jan 21, 2012, 5:21 AM CST for Marion County, Winston County, Alabama. It was in force for 39 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 21, 2012, 5:21 AM CST (11:21 UTC)
Expired: Jan 21, 2012, 6:00 AM CST
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL

Counties Marion County, AL, Winston County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:21 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 142 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: 709 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 478 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 387 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 454 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 8.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

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What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this special weather statement went out at Jan 21, 4:34 AM CST, 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 4:34 AM CST, 47 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 20, 11:22 PM CST, 5 hours 59 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 21, 4:42 AM CST, 39 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jan 21, 5:08 AM CST, 13 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jan 21, 5:21 AM CST, 0 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
521 AM CST SAT JAN 21 2012

ALZ011-012-014-211200-
LAMAR AL-MARION AL-WINSTON AL-
521 AM CST SAT JAN 21 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHWESTERN WINSTON...MARION AND
NORTHERN LAMAR COUNTIES UNTIL 600 AM CST...

AT 518 AM CST...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF
HACKLEBURG TO 14 MILES NORTHWEST OF ABERDEEN...AND MOVING EAST AT 30
MPH.

PEA SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE
STORMS...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THESE STORMS INCLUDE...
  HAMILTON...
  HALEYVILLE...
  SULLIGENT...
  WINFIELD...
  LYNN...

THESE STORMS MAY INTENSIFY....AND A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
THIS AREA. BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS
WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS....FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND
POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

TORRENTIAL RAIN...WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND
UNDERPASSES...IS ALSO LIKELY. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ON A FLOODED
ROADWAY.

&&

LAT...LON 3428 8819 3433 8812 3430 8711 3421 8712
      3392 8782 3392 8795 3386 8795 3375 8825
TIME...MOT...LOC 1121Z 275DEG 28KT 3437 8791 3393 8873

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 21, 4:42 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Marion	48 min
Jan 21, 5:08 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Cleburne	52 min
Jan 21, 5:18 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Calhoun, Cleburne, Talladega	117 min
Jan 21, 6:03 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Winston	42 min
Jan 21, 6:47 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Walker, Winston	43 min
Jan 21, 7:26 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Fayette, Pickens, Walker	34 min
Jan 21, 8:04 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Pickens	41 min
Jan 21, 8:37 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Bibb, Jefferson, Shelby, Tuscaloosa	113 min
Jan 21, 8:58 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Shelby	32 min
Jan 21, 9:28 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Clay, Talladega	32 min
Jan 21, 9:53 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Tallapoosa	37 min
Jan 21, 10:09 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Clay, Randolph, Tallapoosa	36 min
Jan 21, 10:16 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Clay, Talladega	119 min
Jan 21, 10:27 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Randolph	2 hr
Jan 21, 11:17 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Chambers	118 min
Jan 21, 11:47 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Perry	43 min
Jan 21, 12:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes, Montgomery	50 min
Jan 21, 2:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour, Bullock, Russell	37 min

Nearby

Special Weather Statements in Alabama, 2012 Every special weather statement 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.