Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 401

May 17, 200312 counties in Alabama; 4 counties in Mississippi; 18 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 17, 2003, 12:55 AM CDT for 12 counties in Alabama; 4 counties in Mississippi; 18 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 17, 2003, 12:55 AM CDT (05:55 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 2003, 5:00 AM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 34 counties

Blount County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Winston County, AL, Itawamba County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Bedford County, TN, Cannon County, TN, Coffee County, TN, Decatur County, TN, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Hickman County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Marshall County, TN, Maury County, TN, Moore County, TN, Perry County, TN, Rutherford County, TN, Warren County, TN, Wayne County, TN

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 1:00 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardin45 min
May 17, 1:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXPerry, Wayne45 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 186 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2003-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 625 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2003-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 24 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
625 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
946 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 11:41 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 6 more94 min
May 17, 2:37 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlount, Cullman, Franklin, Lamar, Lawrence, Limestone and 5 more53 min
May 17, 7:48 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBibb, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Fayette and 14 more57 min
May 17, 9:20 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCBibb, Blount, Cherokee, Choctaw, Colbert, Cullman and 25 more6 hr
May 17, 10:45 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAutauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers and 20 more90 min
May 17, 1:50 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAutauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 33 more115 min
May 17, 2:25 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAutauga, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Calhoun, Cherokee and 28 more8 hr
May 16, 8:38 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAttala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Choctaw and 37 more97 min
May 16, 9:35 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlcorn, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll and 25 more6 hr
May 17, 1:54 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAttala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Grenada and 12 more66 min
May 17, 4:45 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAttala, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw and 20 more5 hr
May 17, 5:42 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlcorn, Benton, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall and 7 more63 min
May 17, 6:37 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAttala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne and 18 more83 min
May 17, 3:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington and 28 more5 hr
May 17, 6:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAmite, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Greene and 18 more116 min
May 17, 11:50 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAnderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell and 41 more5 hr
May 17, 1:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cannon and 34 more91 min
May 17, 4:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAnderson, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne and 19 more4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Tennessee, 2003Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Alabama, 2003Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Mississippi, 2003Every 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.