Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Watches in 2020

Flash Flood Watch 1, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 14, 202031 counties in Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood watch at Jan 14, 2020, 3:03 AM CST for 31 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 18 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 14, 2020, 3:03 AM CST (09:03 UTC)
Expired: Jan 14, 2020, 9:32 PM CST
In force: 18 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Flood severity: None

All 31 counties

Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marion County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 11 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:04 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 47 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -108 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 647 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood watch 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 flash flood watch went out at Jan 13, 4:24 PM CST, 10 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 13, 4:24 PM CST, 10 hours 39 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 13, 10:51 AM CST, 16 hours 12 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 13, 6:48 PM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Chilton, Coosa	3 hr
Jan 14, 8:32 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Greene	43 min
Jan 14, 9:05 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Hale	40 min
Jan 14, 10:03 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Winston	3 hr
Jan 14, 10:37 AM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Chilton, Coosa, Tallapoosa	3 hr
Jan 14, 11:39 AM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Autauga	21 min
Jan 14, 12:02 PM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Lowndes, Montgomery	43 min
Jan 14, 12:47 PM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Macon, Montgomery	43 min
Jan 14, 1:27 PM CST	Areal Flood Advisory	BMX	Greene, Pickens, Sumter	3 hr
Jan 14, 2:10 PM CST	Special Weather Statement	BMX	Barbour, Pike	65 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Watches in Alabama, 2020 Every flash flood watch in 2020

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.