Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2023
Tornado Watch 11
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 3, 2023, 10:05 PM CST for 40 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 3, 2023, 10:05 PM CST (04:05 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 4, 2023, 4:00 AM CST
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 40 counties
Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Butler County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Winston County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 26 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:05 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
17 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 10:44 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Pickens | 46 min |
| Jan 3, 11:32 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Shelby | 3 hr |
| Jan 3, 11:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas, Perry | 40 min |
| Jan 3, 11:56 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Clarke, Washington | 34 min |
| Jan 3, 11:59 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 46 min |
| Jan 4, 12:02 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 3 hr |
| Jan 4, 12:13 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 6 hr |
| Jan 4, 12:38 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke, Monroe, Wilcox | 42 min |
| Jan 4, 12:54 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Washington | 51 min |
| Jan 4, 12:59 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Clarke, Washington | 6 hr |
| Jan 4, 1:08 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Wilcox | 37 min |
| Jan 4, 1:14 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee, Etowah | 4 hr |
| Jan 4, 1:38 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chilton, Dallas, Perry | 67 min |
| Jan 4, 1:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 36 min |
| Jan 4, 1:48 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke, Monroe, Washington | 42 min |
| Jan 4, 2:31 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Coosa, Elmore, Lowndes, Montgomery | 59 min |
| Jan 4, 3:14 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore, Macon, Montgomery, Tallapoosa | 44 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 26 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
- 449 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -62 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 630 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 230 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 228 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 4.7
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 3, 7:45 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Choctaw, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson and 9 more | 90 min |
| Jan 3, 11:37 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Choctaw, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo and 6 more | 83 min |
| Jan 4, 2:06 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers and 23 more | 114 min |
| Jan 4, 2:59 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Clay, Coffee and 13 more | 7 hr |
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.