Alert archive / Alabama / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 241

March 13, 200336 counties in Alabama; 8 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 13, 2003, 12:59 PM CST for 36 counties in Alabama; 8 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 13, 2003, 12:59 PM CST (18:59 UTC)
Expired: Mar 13, 2003, 3:00 PM CST
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 44 counties

Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Butler County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery 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, Clarke County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Perry County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:03 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.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 44Mar 13, 3:10 PM CST

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 93 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 428 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -101 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 783 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 13, 1:58 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Covington, Escambia, Geneva, Houston	3 hr
Mar 13, 9:39 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Calhoun and 40 more	2 hr
Mar 13, 10:10 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Calhoun, Cherokee and 37 more	6 hr
Mar 13, 2:15 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler and 35 more	2 hr
Mar 13, 3:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh and 12 more	5 hr
Mar 13, 5:33 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Covington	87 min
Mar 13, 5:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barbour, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Russell	5 hr
Mar 13, 8:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll and 49 more	5 hr
Mar 13, 10:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Hancock, Harrison	5 hr
Mar 13, 11:29 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw and 39 more	2 hr
Mar 13, 1:26 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Hancock	2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Mississippi, 2003 Every mesoscale discussion in 2003

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.