Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2013
Tornado Watch 18
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 30, 2013, 5:15 AM CST for 40 counties in Alabama; 5 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 30, 2013, 5:15 AM CST (11:15 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 30, 2013, 12:23 PM CST
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 45 counties
Autauga County, AL, Baldwin County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Hale County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pike County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Russell County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Perry County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:15 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
22 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 30, 7:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 46 min |
| Jan 30, 7:53 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton, Coosa | 52 min |
| Jan 30, 8:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale, Marengo | 45 min |
| Jan 30, 8:15 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 45 min |
| Jan 30, 8:46 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 29 min |
| Jan 30, 9:02 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 28 min |
| Jan 30, 9:03 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Clarke, Washington | 42 min |
| Jan 30, 9:08 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 52 min |
| Jan 30, 9:20 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 40 min |
| Jan 30, 10:09 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Coosa, Elmore | 51 min |
| Jan 30, 10:12 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Talladega | 3 hr |
| Jan 30, 10:20 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Calhoun, St. Clair | 3 hr |
| Jan 30, 10:24 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 51 min |
| Jan 30, 10:31 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay, Randolph | 44 min |
| Jan 30, 10:42 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Clay, Cleburne | 3 hr |
| Jan 30, 10:53 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay, Tallapoosa | 37 min |
| Jan 30, 10:54 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Clarke, Washington | 6 hr |
| Jan 30, 10:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 33 min |
| Jan 30, 11:08 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne, Randolph | 37 min |
| Jan 30, 11:19 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Tallapoosa | 26 min |
| Jan 30, 11:26 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers, Randolph | 49 min |
| Jan 30, 12:10 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bullock, Montgomery, Pike | 35 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 117 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 216 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 770 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 254 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 172 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
569
WWUS20 KWNS 301114
SEL8
SPC WW 301114
ALZ000-MSZ000-301900-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 18
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
515 AM CST WED JAN 30 2013
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTHWEST THROUGH NORTHEAST ALABAMA
FAR SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 515 AM UNTIL
100 PM CST.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 70 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF
EVERGREEN ALABAMA TO 20 MILES NORTHEAST OF GADSDEN ALABAMA. FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 14...WW 15...WW 16...WW
17...
DISCUSSION...PRE-SQUALL LINE CONVECTION HAS GRADUALLY INTENSIFIED
OVER THE PAST HOUR WITH LIGHTNING NOW OBSERVED OVER CNTRL AL. GIVEN
THE MOIST AND STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT...POTENTIAL WILL EXIST
FOR SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WINDS.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22040.
...MEADSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 29, 9:49 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale | 116 min |
| Jan 30, 1:31 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb and 17 more | 29 min |
| Jan 30, 1:46 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Blount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Fayette, Franklin and 16 more | 8 hr |
| Jan 30, 4:27 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Mobile, Washington | 93 min |
| Jan 30, 5:01 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers and 26 more | 29 min |
| Jan 30, 7:43 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun and 36 more | 62 min |
| Jan 30, 10:09 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Crenshaw and 9 more | 96 min |
| Jan 30, 11:50 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bullock, Chambers, Elmore, Lee, Macon, Montgomery and 3 more | 85 min |
| Jan 30, 12:19 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Coffee, Conecuh and 16 more | 9 hr |
| Jan 30, 4:51 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd and 8 more | 7 hr |
| Jan 30, 6:38 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd and 7 more | 97 min |
| Jan 30, 7:11 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley and 81 more | 7 hr |
| Jan 30, 3:13 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Colquitt, Columbia, Crisp and 32 more | 2 hr |
| Jan 30, 4:31 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks and 34 more | 59 min |
| Jan 30, 4:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill and 71 more | 6 hr |
| Jan 29, 7:31 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, DeSoto and 26 more | 119 min |
| Jan 29, 8:11 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bolivar, Coahoma, Issaquena, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tunica and 1 more | 94 min |
| Jan 29, 10:07 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll and 37 more | 6 hr |
| Jan 30, 3:03 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll and 41 more | 57 min |
| Jan 30, 3:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Attala, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Copiah, Covington and 23 more | 4 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2013Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2013Every tornado watch in 2013
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.