Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003
Mesoscale Discussion 856
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 8, 2003, 2:43 PM CDT for 34 counties in Texas. It was in force for 62 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 8, 2003, 2:43 PM CDT (19:43 UTC)
- Expired
- May 8, 2003, 3:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Concerning
- Severe thunderstorm potential
All 34 counties
Archer County, TX, Bosque County, TX, Brown County, TX, Burnet County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Clay County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Concho County, TX, Coryell County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Denton County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Erath County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hill County, TX, Hood County, TX, Jack County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Lampasas County, TX, Llano County, TX, Mason County, TX, McCulloch County, TX, Menard County, TX, Mills County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, San Saba County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX
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, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 137 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
- 1954 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -157 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 618 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 291 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 444 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.1
- Supercell composite
- 8.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
165 ACUS11 KWNS 081944 SWOMCD SPC MCD 081943 COR TXZ000-082045- MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0856 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0243 PM CDT THU MAY 08 2003 AREAS AFFECTED...NRN AND CENTRAL TX CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL VALID 081943Z - 082045Z CORRECTED FOR UGC CODE ...TORNADO WATCH MIGHT BE NEEDED BY 300-400 PM... DRYLINE AT 19Z EXTENDS FROM SW OF LTS SWWD ALONG A LINE TO NEAR ABI AND SJT. AS SURFACE LOW MOVES EWD INTO CENTRAL KS...DRYLINE WILL MOVE EWD AND IS FORECAST TO EXTEND FROM ABOUT 50 E OF SPS TO NEAR JCT BY 22Z. TEMPERATURES HAVE WARMED INTO THE LOWER 90S EAST OF THE DRYLINE. THESE TEMPERATURES WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 70S ARE RESULTING IN MLCAPES BETWEEN 3000 TO 3500 J/KG. THE 18Z OUN SOUNDING SHOWED THE CAP WOULD BE BROKEN WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 80S....BUT MORE HEATING IS REQUIRED ACROSS NRN TX WHERE THE UPPER FORCING IS WEAKER AND THE CAP IS STRONGER. SOME CUMULUS CLOUDS HAVE RECENTLY DEVELOPED NEAR ABI AND SPS AND EXPECT THESE WILL INCREASE AS THE DRYLINE MOVES EWD INTO DEEPER BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE. WITH A LITTLE MORE HEATING...THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP...THOUGH THEY MAY BE MORE ISOLATED THAN FURTHER NORTH. HOWEVER...THE STRONG INSTABILITY AND 40 KT DEEP LAYER SHEAR WOULD SUPPORT SUPERCELLS. ONCE IT BECOMES APPEARS THAT THE CAP WILL BE BROKEN...A WW WOULD BE ISSUED ..IMY.. 05/08/2003 ...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT... ATTN...WFO...FWD...OUN...EWX...SJT... 30649944 31060020 32329956 33349893 33939849 33959820 33589707 32849667 31129740 30649845
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 8:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Archer, Armstrong, Baylor, Bosque, Briscoe, Callahan and 59 more | 59 min |
| May 7, 8:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Erath, Freestone, Hamilton and 7 more | 6 hr |
| May 7, 10:35 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clay, Cooke, Fannin, Foard, Grayson, Hardeman and 3 more | 5 hr |
| May 7, 11:51 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Cooke, Fannin, Foard, Grayson, Hardeman and 3 more | 54 min |
| May 8, 1:57 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cooke, Fannin, Grayson, Montague | 2 hr |
| May 8, 1:35 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Wichita | 7 hr |
| May 8, 3:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Archer, Brown, Callahan, Clay, Coleman, Comanche and 18 more | 5 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 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.