Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 398

May 16, 2003Sabine Parish, Louisiana; 17 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 16, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT for Sabine Parish, Louisiana; 17 counties in Texas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2003, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Sabine Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Brazos County, TX, Burleson County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Leon County, TX, Madison County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Polk County, TX, Robertson County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Walker County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 164 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:03 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.

Warnings issued inside it

13 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 8:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	54 min
May 16, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Leon	61 min
May 16, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Robertson	52 min
May 16, 9:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Madison	39 min
May 16, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Angelina	52 min
May 16, 9:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Madison	31 min
May 16, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Milam, Robertson	52 min
May 16, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Walker	60 min
May 16, 10:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazos	43 min
May 16, 10:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Burleson	46 min
May 16, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Grimes	41 min
May 16, 10:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	San Jacinto, Walker	52 min
May 16, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Grimes	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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 240 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: 2629 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 810 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 5.7

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
May 16, 8:14 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, De Soto, Jackson and 8 more	2 hr
May 16, 8:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Caldwell, East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita and 3 more	97 min
May 17, 4:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Caldwell, Catahoula, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle, Madison and 6 more	5 hr
May 17, 6:37 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Caldwell, Catahoula, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle, Madison and 3 more	83 min
May 17, 7:48 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Catahoula, LaSalle, Tensas	57 min
May 17, 9:20 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, Saint Helena, Washington, West Feliciana	6 hr
May 17, 1:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, Saint Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, West Feliciana	115 min
May 17, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Madison, Saint Helena, Tangipahoa, Tensas and 3 more	5 hr
May 17, 6:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Saint Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington	116 min
May 16, 10:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Comal, Fayette and 14 more	113 min
May 16, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Colorado and 15 more	5 hr
May 17, 1:17 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colorado, DeWitt, Fort Bend, Gonzales, Lavaca, Wharton and 1 more	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Louisiana, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.