Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003
Mesoscale Discussion 265
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 17, 2003, 3:02 PM CST for Carter County, Jefferson County, Love County, Oklahoma; 20 counties in Texas. It was in force for 118 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 17, 2003, 3:02 PM CST (21:02 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 17, 2003, 5:00 PM CST
- In force
- 118 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 23 counties
Carter County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Love County, OK, Archer County, TX, Bosque County, TX, Clay County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Denton County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Erath County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hill County, TX, Hood County, TX, Jack County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 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
- 365 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -231 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 831 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 66 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 82 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
441 ACUS11 KWNS 172102 SWOMCD SPC MCD 172102 TXZ000-OKZ000-172300- MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0265 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0302 PM CST MON MAR 17 2003 AREAS AFFECTED...N CNTRL TX CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 47... VALID 172102Z - 172300Z DRY LINE HAS BECOME BETTER DEFINED PAST FEW HOURS IN RESPONSE TO SURFACE HEATING AND EVOLVING UPPER FLOW PATTERN. 20Z SURFACE DATA INDICATED BOUNDARY CURVING JUST EAST OF CHILDRESS AND ABILENE... CONTINUING SOUTHWARD INTO RIO GRANDE VALLEY. WHILE STRONGER MID/ UPPER FORCING FOR UPWARD VERTICAL MOTION HAS SPREAD FROM THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS...DAYTIME HEATING/ CONVERGENCE ALONG DRY LINE...AND WARM ADVECTION REGIME IN MOIST ENVIRONMENT AHEAD OF IT...WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT SCATTERED INTENSE STORMS. CAPE ON THE ORDER OF 1000 J/KG IS SUPPORTIVE OF VIGOROUS UPDRAFTS...AND AS MID-LEVEL FLOW CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN THROUGH EARLY EVENING...SHEAR PROFILES WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL/DAMAGING DOWNBURSTS... PERHAPS A TORNADO. ..KERR.. 03/17/2003 ...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT... ATTN...WFO...FWD...OUN... 31659842 32079848 32849867 33919870 34479798 34209706 33059665 31799670 31499754
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 8:09 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson | 3 hr |
| Mar 17, 11:40 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Beaver, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche and 16 more | 3 hr |
| Mar 17, 12:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Coal and 19 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 17, 1:55 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Garfield, Grant and 10 more | 5 hr |
| Mar 17, 2:47 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Canadian, Garfield, Grant, Kingfisher and 2 more | 118 min |
| Mar 17, 3:24 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaver, Beckham, Carter, Greer, Jackson, Jefferson and 3 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 17, 5:50 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Coal and 19 more | 5 hr |
| Mar 17, 11:17 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bosque, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis and 19 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2003Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 2003Every 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.