Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2023
Tornado Watch 718
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 9, 2023, 10:10 PM CST for 20 counties in Alabama; Wayne County, Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 9, 2023, 10:10 PM CST (04:10 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 10, 2023, 4:00 AM CST
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
All 21 counties
Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Perry County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Wayne County, MS
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:15 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
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- 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
- 40%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 9, 11:12 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Walker | 48 min |
| Dec 9, 11:59 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair | 46 min |
| Dec 10, 12:44 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Calhoun, Etowah, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby | 46 min |
| Dec 10, 1:03 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton, Coosa, Shelby, Talladega | 42 min |
| Dec 10, 1:16 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah, St. Clair | 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, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 34 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
- 821 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 911 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 144 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 211 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 3.7
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 9, 6:39 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Franklin, Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan | 96 min |
| Dec 9, 7:48 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Blount, Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Jackson and 1 more | 7 hr |
| Dec 9, 8:18 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan | 87 min |
| Dec 9, 8:29 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay and 17 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 9, 9:31 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, Marshall | 119 min |
| Dec 9, 11:40 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee | 65 min |
| Dec 9, 11:53 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 33 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 10, 12:58 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Coffee, Conecuh and 16 more | 9 hr |
| Dec 10, 2:02 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clarke and 22 more | 88 min |
| Dec 10, 4:00 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale and 7 more | 90 min |
| Dec 10, 6:02 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston | 88 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2023Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2023Every tornado watch in 2023
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.