Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2020
Tornado Watch 123
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 19, 2020, 3:56 PM CDT for 26 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 19, 2020, 3:56 PM CDT (20:56 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 19, 2020, 10:16 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 26 counties
Autauga County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:55 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
- 90%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 70%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 90%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 60%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 60%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
23 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 3:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Butler, Crenshaw | 47 min |
| Apr 19, 4:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 45 min |
| Apr 19, 4:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 46 min |
| Apr 19, 4:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marengo | 42 min |
| Apr 19, 5:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Clarke | 60 min |
| Apr 19, 5:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 37 min |
| Apr 19, 5:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 23 min |
| Apr 19, 5:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marengo | 23 min |
| Apr 19, 5:57 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Clarke | 48 min |
| Apr 19, 6:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke | 31 min |
| Apr 19, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Wilcox | 48 min |
| Apr 19, 6:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Clarke, Monroe | 43 min |
| Apr 19, 6:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 40 min |
| Apr 19, 7:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Butler, Monroe, Wilcox | 22 min |
| Apr 19, 7:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Butler | 30 min |
| Apr 19, 7:38 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Lee | 3 hr |
| Apr 19, 7:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Crenshaw | 30 min |
| Apr 19, 8:10 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Clarke, Washington | 3 hr |
| Apr 19, 8:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Washington | 55 min |
| Apr 19, 9:04 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Baldwin, Clarke, Escambia, Monroe, Washington | 3 hr |
| Apr 19, 9:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Washington | 38 min |
| Apr 19, 9:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Baldwin, Clarke, Washington | 24 min |
| Apr 19, 9:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Baldwin, Clarke, Escambia, Mobile | 19 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
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 280 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1440 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 88 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 105 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 2:34 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Tuscaloosa | 116 min |
| Apr 19, 3:03 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh and 12 more | 117 min |
| Apr 19, 5:52 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee and 11 more | 83 min |
Nearby
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.