Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 309
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 20, 2025, 6:46 PM CDT for 22 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 20, 2025, 6:46 PM CDT (23:46 UTC)
- Expired
- May 21, 2025, 2:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 22 counties
Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Marion County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:48 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
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 8:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Marion | 34 min |
| May 20, 9:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 45 min |
| May 20, 9:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 37 min |
| May 20, 9:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 43 min |
| May 20, 9:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 66 min |
| May 20, 9:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee, Etowah | 50 min |
| May 20, 11:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 24 min |
| May 20, 11:21 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 54 min |
| May 20, 11:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 52 min |
| May 21, 12:48 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cleburne, Talladega | 29 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 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 65 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
- 218 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -151 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 831 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 82 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.7
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 10:19 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison | 2 hr |
| May 20, 1:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Fayette and 14 more | 117 min |
| May 20, 2:36 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more | 8 hr |
| May 20, 3:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Lauderdale | 117 min |
| May 20, 5:08 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chilton, Clay and 20 more | 2 hr |
| May 20, 5:47 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison | 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.