Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 2015

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 4, 2015Shelby County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jul 4, 2015, 7:30 AM CDT for Shelby 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 4, 2015, 7:30 AM CDT (12:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 4, 2015, 10:30 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County Shelby County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:32 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, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 34 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: 535 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -58 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 200 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 201 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 5.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

419 
WGUS54 KBMX 041230
FFWBMX
ALC117-041530-
/O.NEW.KBMX.FF.W.0009.150704T1230Z-150704T1530Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
730 AM CDT SAT JUL 4 2015

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN SHELBY COUNTY IN CENTRAL ALABAMA...

* UNTIL 1030 AM CDT
    
* AT 729 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING
  HEAVY RAIN ACROSS THE WARNED AREA. UP TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN HAVE
  ALREADY FALLEN. FLASH FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN SHORTLY.

* SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...
  HOOVER...LEEDS...CHELSEA...INDIAN SPRINGS VILLAGE...VINCENT...
  HARPERSVILLE...WESTOVER...MOUNT LAUREL...VANDIVER...LAKE PURDY...
  GREYSTONE...BROOK HIGHLAND...MEADOWBROOK...FOWLER LAKE...HIGHLAND
  LAKES...OAK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK...SHOAL CREEK...HOOVER VETERANS
  PARK AND STERRETT.

ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF 1 TO 3 INCHES IS POSSIBLE IN THE WARNED AREA.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW. ACT QUICKLY TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE.

TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN WHEN ENCOUNTERING FLOODED ROADS. MOST FLOOD
DEATHS OCCUR IN VEHICLES.

&&

LAT...LON 3350 8648 3350 8638 3339 8638 3336 8634
      3334 8637 3333 8637 3335 8681 3337 8680
      3337 8678 3339 8678 3339 8676 3342 8675
      3342 8672 3345 8668 3347 8667 3347 8661
      3351 8657 3353 8652 3355 8652 3355 8648

$$

87/GRANTHAM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 7:01 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Lowndes	44 min
Jul 3, 7:21 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Montgomery	54 min
Jul 3, 7:38 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Tuscaloosa	52 min
Jul 3, 7:45 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Greene	45 min
Jul 3, 8:07 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Lamar, Marion	53 min
Jul 3, 8:36 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Elmore, Tallapoosa	39 min
Jul 3, 10:40 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Autauga, Chilton, Dallas, Perry, Shelby	65 min
Jul 3, 11:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa, Tallapoosa	60 min
Jul 3, 11:36 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Elmore	54 min
Jul 4, 12:06 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Chambers	39 min
Jul 4, 12:13 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Randolph	28 min
Jul 4, 12:20 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Lee	40 min
Jul 4, 12:34 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Marion, Winston	3 hr
Jul 4, 12:39 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Macon	51 min
Jul 4, 2:47 AM CDT	Flash Flood Watch	BMX	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah and 12 more	20 hr
Jul 4, 3:59 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
Jul 4, 4:11 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Walker, Winston	6 hr
Jul 4, 6:25 AM CDT	River Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	21 hr
Jul 4, 6:29 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
Jul 4, 1:34 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Greene, Hale	41 min
Jul 4, 2:05 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Hale, Perry	55 min
Jul 4, 2:59 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Bibb, Chilton, Perry	61 min
Jul 4, 4:38 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Autauga	22 min
Jul 4, 5:08 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Montgomery	37 min
Jul 4, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore, Tallapoosa	37 min
Jul 4, 5:55 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Macon, Tallapoosa	35 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 2015 Every flash flood warning in 2015

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.