Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 839

August 4, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Aug 4, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 4, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 2003, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 52 counties

Baxter County, AR, Clay County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lee County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Sharp County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, Stone County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Douglas County, MO, Dunklin County, MO, Howell County, MO, Ozark County, MO, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Union County, MS, Chester County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Fayette County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henderson County, TN, Lauderdale County, TN, Madison County, TN, McNairy County, TN, Shelby County, TN, Tipton County, TN

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Fulton, Izard	59 min
Aug 5, 2:16 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Alcorn, Prentiss	59 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

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 133 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: 2196 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1338 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 5.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 050200
SEL9  
SPC WW 050200
ARZ000-MOZ000-MSZ000-TNZ000-050800-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 839 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
900 PM CDT MON AUG 4 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       NORTHEAST ARKANSAS
       EXTREME SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI
       NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI
       WESTERN TENNESSEE

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING FROM 900 PM UNTIL
300 AM CDT.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WEST PLAINS
MISSOURI TO 50 MILES NORTHEAST OF TUPELO MISSISSIPPI.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REPLACES
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 835...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
NUMBER 837. WATCH NUMBER 835 837 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 900
PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 836...WW 838...


DISCUSSION...ONE OR MORE CLUSTERS OF STRONG/SEVERE STORMS WILL
LIKELY PERSIST INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS FROM N/NE AR INTO WRN
TN/NRN MS.  A FEED OF 2500-3000 J/KG MLCAPE FROM THE SW AND 0-6 KM
SHEAR OF 30-40 KT WILL SUPPORT A CONTINUED THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS
AND LARGE HAIL.

AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60
KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 29025.


...THOMPSON

370,0923 353,0880 335,0880 351,0923

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 8:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Cleburne, Conway and 26 more	95 min
Aug 4, 11:02 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene and 11 more	88 min
Aug 4, 7:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Attala, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clarke and 31 more	2 hr
Aug 5, 1:28 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alcorn, Benton, Chickasaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lee and 8 more	62 min
Aug 5, 1:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, Atchison, Barton, Bates, Benton, Buchanan and 25 more	115 min
Aug 5, 3:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cass, Cedar and 20 more	5 hr
Aug 5, 5:51 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cass, Cedar and 20 more	114 min
Aug 4, 8:59 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Bradley, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger and 16 more	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Arkansas, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Mississippi, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Tennessee, 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.