Alert archive / Alabama / Special Weather Statements in 2017

Special Weather Statement, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 2, 2017Jefferson County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this special weather statement at Jan 2, 2017, 10:02 AM CST for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 43 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 2, 2017, 10:02 AM CST (16:02 UTC)
Expired
Jan 2, 2017, 10:45 AM CST
In force
43 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL

County Jefferson County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:05 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, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 37 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 2017-01-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 11 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 2017-01-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 171 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
166 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

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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 2, 6:06 AM CST, 3 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 2, 6:06 AM CST, 3 hours 56 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Birmingham AL
606 AM CST Mon Jan 2 2017

.UPDATE...
For 12Z Aviation.

&&

.DISCUSSION...

An active severe weather day is shaping up across the Gulf States,
and confidence in the local severe weather threat has increased
somewhat this morning. However, the threat across our forecast
area remains very conditional on mesoscale features and quite
complicated. Overnight convection extending from the southeast tip
of Louisiana into Southeast AL and southern Georgia has created an
effective cold front which is now beginning to stall. This
boundary should begin to return northward later this morning and
become the effective warm front. To the north of this boundary,
the airmass is rather stable and characterized by temperatures and
dewpoints in the lower 60s. Some modification of the airmass is
possible north of the effective warm front as SSW 850 mb flow
continues to feed moisture into the region, but the strongest CAPE
should remain south of the boundary. For this reason and in the
scenarios discussed below, we will continue to show the northern
one-third of the forecast area as having no discernible severe
weather risk.

Part 1 (Noon to 8 PM): Elevated thunderstorm activity has formed
this morning in Southwest Mississippi and may reach our southwest
counties late this morning into the early afternoon. At the same
time, airmass modification may lead to surface-based instability
as these storms arrive into the CWA. There is some suggestion by
recent model information that another effective warm front will
develop in the vicinity of the Highway 80 corridor, enhancing the
threat for tornadoes and damaging winds. To account for this, our
severe weather timeframe will be shown starting at noon with an
elevated risk area extending from Demopolis to Phenix City
southward and a lower threat to the north.

Part 2 (8 PM to 3 AM): We are now also concerned about the
potential for a more substantial nocturnal severe weather
episode mainly along and south of the Interstate 85 corridor.
Short range ensemble guidance and other individual models are
coming to a consensus regarding the development of a 45-55 kt LLJ
tonight across southern Alabama along with large clockwise-curved
hodographs. This LLJ could promote the advancement of much
stronger CAPE into our S/SE counties after 8 PM. Mid-level lapse
rates have also been trending stronger with time, and forecast
soundings show an increasingly dangerous environment. What
initially may form into a QLCS could break up into supercells as
the 500 mb trough deamplifies and and 0-6 km shear vectors become
westerly or even west-northwesterly. The threat appears to
continue much longer than previously thought, and an elevated risk
for tornadoes and damaging winds will be maintained through 3 AM.
A strong tornado or two may also be possible, and that possibility
will need to be evaluated in later updates.

There is still not a good model consensus beyond Wednesday,
leading to continued low forecast confidence. Ensemble members
continue to show a wide range of possibilities from wintry
precipitation to all rain to totally dry conditions for Thursday
through Saturday. A slight chance for a wintry mix was kept in for
Friday into Friday for consistency.

87/Grantham

&&

.AVIATION...
12Z TAF Discussion.

Band of showers across the U.S. 80 corridor and southward this
morning. A few lightning strikes near TOI otherwise expecting TS
activity to increase during the day from the south/southwest
spreading across/into all areas of TAFs by afternoon as a warm
front progresses northward and ahead of a cold front to our
northwest. Until then IFR cigs and MVFR fog will be common along
I-20 corridor behind earlier rain shield. Some storms could be
strong this afternoon and tonight especially in the MGM/TOI area.

08

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...

Wet conditions will continue through tonight with drier conditions
to follow. There are no fire weather concerns at this time.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Gadsden     67  58  65  47  51 /  90 100  20  10  10
Anniston    68  59  66  48  54 /  90 100  20  10  10
Birmingham  70  59  66  49  53 /  90  90  20  10  10
Tuscaloosa  71  58  68  49  54 / 100  80  10  10  10
Calera      70  59  67  49  54 /  90  90  20  10  10
Auburn      69  60  68  50  58 /  90 100  20  10  10
Montgomery  73  60  72  52  61 / 100  90  10  10  10
Troy        72  59  72  51  63 /  90  90  10  10  10

&&

.BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES/...
Dense Fog Advisory until 9 AM CST this morning for the following
counties: Bibb...Blount...Calhoun...Cherokee...Cleburne...
Etowah...Fayette...Greene...Hale...Jefferson...Lamar...Marion...
Pickens...Shelby...St. Clair...Sumter...Talladega...Tuscaloosa...
Walker...Winston.

Flash Flood Watch through 6 AM Tuesday for the following
counties: Barbour...Bullock...Chambers...Lee...Lowndes...Macon...
Montgomery...Pike...Russell.

&&

87/08
Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 2, 9:33 AM CST, 29 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 2, 8:48 AM CST, 1 hour 14 minutes before
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Local storm report, Jan 2, 9:02 AM CST, 1 hour before
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Local storm report, Jan 2, 9:03 AM CST, 59 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Jan 2, 9:04 AM CST, 58 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Jan 2, 9:48 AM CST, 14 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Jan 2, 10:02 AM CST, 0 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 1, 7:11 PM CSTDense Fog AdvisoryBMXBibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah and 14 more14 hr
Jan 2, 5:05 AM CSTFlash Flood WatchBMXBarbour, Bullock, Chambers, Lee, Lowndes, Macon and 3 more19 hr
Jan 2, 7:00 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXGreene, Sumter21 min
Jan 2, 7:22 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXGreene53 min
Jan 2, 8:04 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXTuscaloosa41 min
Jan 2, 8:48 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXTuscaloosa42 min
Jan 2, 9:04 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXJefferson41 min
Jan 2, 9:13 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson30 min
Jan 2, 9:48 AM CSTAreal Flood WarningBMXBibb, Blount, Chilton, Greene, Hale, Jefferson and 3 more117 min
Jan 2, 9:48 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXBibb42 min
Jan 2, 10:35 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXChilton, Shelby40 min
Jan 2, 11:07 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXCoosa, St. Clair, Talladega38 min
Jan 2, 11:45 AM CSTAreal Flood AdvisoryBMXBibb, Chilton, Hale, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and 3 more2 hr
Jan 2, 11:48 AM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXCalhoun, Clay, Talladega42 min
Jan 2, 12:11 PM CSTSpecial Weather StatementBMXMarengo49 min
Jan 2, 12:36 PM CSTAreal Flood AdvisoryBMXCalhoun, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Randolph and 3 more114 min
Jan 2, 1:09 PM CSTAreal Flood AdvisoryBMXAutauga, Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore and 3 more2 hr
Jan 2, 3:51 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXPike34 min
Jan 2, 4:11 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXBullock48 min
Jan 2, 5:24 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXAutauga, Lowndes, Montgomery6 hr
Jan 2, 5:27 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXBullock, Pike6 hr
Jan 2, 5:56 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXBarbour, Russell5 hr
Jan 2, 5:59 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXElmore, Macon, Montgomery, Tallapoosa5 hr

Nearby

Special Weather Statements in Alabama, 2017Every special weather statement in 2017

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.