Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2022
Tornado Watch 22
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 17, 2022, 3:57 PM CST for 17 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 17, 2022, 3:57 PM CST (21:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 17, 2022, 9:00 PM CST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Perry County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:57 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
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- 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
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 4:38 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Walker | 40 min |
| Feb 17, 4:59 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bibb, Tuscaloosa | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 5:28 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Shelby | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 5:39 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Shelby | 51 min |
| Feb 17, 6:18 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 21 min |
| Feb 17, 6:22 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 6 hr |
| Feb 17, 6:31 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Walker | 6 hr |
| Feb 17, 7:32 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 43 min |
| Feb 17, 7:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne | 25 min |
| Feb 17, 7:58 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Shelby | 6 hr |
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 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 55 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
- 1095 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 585 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 637 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 1:11 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Lauderdale | 2 hr |
| Feb 17, 1:46 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Colbert, Cullman, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale and 12 more | 6 hr |
| Feb 17, 1:56 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Choctaw, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo and 5 more | 3 hr |
| Feb 17, 3:47 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and 2 more | 118 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.