Alert archive / Alabama / Special Weather Statements in 2012

Special Weather Statement, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 18, 2012Fayette County, Greene County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this special weather statement at Jul 18, 2012, 1:45 PM CDT for Fayette County, Greene County, Alabama. It was in force for 45 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: Jul 18, 2012, 1:45 PM CDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2012, 2:30 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL

Counties Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:48 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 1162 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 873 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 18 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.

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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 Jul 18, 12:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 12:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 10 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 18, 1:34 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 18, 12:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1223 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1150 AM     FLASH FLOOD      3 NNW FULTONDALE        33.67N 86.82W
07/18/2012                   JEFFERSON          AL   PUBLIC

            FLOWING WATER 6 TO 8 INCHES DEEP ACROSS THE NORTHBOUND

            LANES OF U.S. HIGHWAY 31 NEAR THE GARDENDALE POST OFFICE.

&&

REM

Special weather statement, Jul 18, 12:29 PM CDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1229 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012

ALZ022-023-030-031-181815-
GREENE AL-PICKENS AL-SUMTER AL-TUSCALOOSA AL-
1229 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHWESTERN TUSCALOOSA...
SUMTER...SOUTHEASTERN PICKENS AND GREENE COUNTIES UNTIL 115 PM CDT...

AT 1226 PM CDT...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAS TRACKING STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM GORDO TO 5 MILES NORTHEAST
OF WEST GREENE TO EMELLE...AND MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

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...
  LIVINGSTON...
  EUTAW...
  BENEVOLA...
  MANTUA...
  EPES...

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 3306 8809 3345 8791 3311 8769 3289 8778
      3286 8783 3282 8782 3277 8787 3276 8785
      3272 8786 3238 8811 3272 8834
TIME...MOT...LOC 1730Z 331DEG 14KT 3328 8789 3298 8803
          3271 8823

MA

Local storm report, Jul 18, 12:38 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 18, 12:57 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 18, 1:45 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 7:52 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Montgomery	38 min
Jul 17, 11:12 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Greene	2 hr
Jul 17, 11:48 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Cherokee	42 min
Jul 18, 12:37 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Etowah	38 min
Jul 18, 12:45 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Cherokee	30 min
Jul 18, 1:12 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Etowah	48 min
Jul 18, 6:59 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Randolph	46 min
Jul 18, 10:41 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Shelby	3 hr
Jul 18, 10:53 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Jefferson	112 min
Jul 18, 11:14 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	88 min
Jul 18, 12:29 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Greene, Sumter	46 min
Jul 18, 12:57 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Fayette	48 min
Jul 18, 1:29 PM CDT	Areal Flood Warning	BMX	Shelby	3 hr
Jul 18, 1:43 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Walker, Winston	2 hr
Jul 18, 1:49 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Greene, Hale, Pickens, Tuscaloosa	116 min
Jul 18, 2:04 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Fayette, Lamar	116 min
Jul 18, 2:14 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Etowah	2 hr

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.