Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 246

May 5, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2003, 3:50 AM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 5, 2003, 3:50 AM CDT (08:50 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 2003, 10:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 61 counties

Alexander County, IL, Franklin County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hamilton County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Jackson County, IL, Jefferson County, IL, Johnson County, IL, Massac County, IL, Monroe County, IL, Perry County, IL, Pope County, IL, Pulaski County, IL, Randolph County, IL, Saline County, IL, Union County, IL, Washington County, IL, White County, IL, Williamson County, IL, Gibson County, IN, Posey County, IN, Spencer County, IN, Vanderburgh County, IN, Warrick County, IN, Ballard County, KY, Caldwell County, KY, Calloway County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Christian County, KY, Crittenden County, KY, Daviess County, KY, Fulton County, KY, Graves County, KY, Henderson County, KY, Hickman County, KY, Hopkins County, KY, Livingston County, KY, Lyon County, KY, Marshall County, KY, McCracken County, KY, McLean County, KY, Muhlenberg County, KY, Todd County, KY, Trigg County, KY, Union County, KY, Webster County, KY, Bollinger County, MO, Butler County, MO, Cape Girardeau County, MO, Iron County, MO, Jefferson County, MO, Madison County, MO, Mississippi County, MO, New Madrid County, MO, Perry County, MO, Ripley County, MO, Saint Francois County, MO, Sainte Genevieve County, MO, Scott County, MO, Stoddard County, MO, Wayne County, MO

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:51 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 9:18 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAHSpencer27 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 268 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 2003-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 117 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 2003-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 293 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
117 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1192 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
293 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
530 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 050851
SEL6  
SPC WW 050850
ILZ000-INZ000-KYZ000-MOZ000-051500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 246 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
350 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2003

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

       SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
       SOUTHWEST INDIANA
       WESTERN KENTUCKY
       SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY MORNING FROM 350 AM UNTIL 1000 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 55 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 105 STATUTE MILES EAST AND
WEST OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF MOUNT VERNON
ILLINOIS TO 40 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF PADUCAH KENTUCKY.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 240. WATCH NUMBER 240 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 350
AM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 241...WW 242...WW 243...WW 244...WW 245...


DISCUSSION...THREAT FOR SUPERCELLS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL
PERSIST THROUGH MID MORNING ACROSS WATCH AREA...WHERE STRONG /50 KT/
LOW LEVEL SHEAR EXPECTED TO PERSIST IN REGION OF MODERATE /LIFTED
INDICES AOB MINUS 5/ SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY AND WEAK CONVERGENCE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26045.


...CORFIDI

382,0864 363,0870 363,0905 382,0903

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander116 min
May 4, 8:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Bond, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Cass and 73 more85 min
May 4, 9:26 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope and 2 more2 hr
May 4, 10:40 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCEdwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 14 more5 hr
May 4, 11:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian and 33 more5 hr
May 5, 1:20 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlexander, Massac, Pulaski6 hr
May 5, 1:30 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCEdwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 16 more90 min
May 5, 1:46 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBond, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles and 25 more89 min
May 5, 3:41 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 13 more34 min
May 5, 6:32 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 10 more88 min
May 5, 9:19 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 13 more56 min
May 5, 12:20 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCHardin7 hr
May 4, 11:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Harrison, Jefferson and 5 more23 min
May 4, 11:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClark, Crawford, Floyd, Harrison, Orange, Perry and 1 more5 hr
May 5, 2:31 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrawford, Floyd, Harrison89 min
May 5, 7:35 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCHarrison, Perry5 hr
May 5, 10:12 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHarrison, Perry93 min
May 5, 11:59 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHarrison, Perry61 min
May 5, 2:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrawford, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Harrison, Perry and 4 more118 min
May 5, 4:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCSteuben3 hr
May 5, 4:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCOhio3 hr
May 5, 6:33 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Harrison and 6 more57 min
May 5, 4:18 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Ballard, Barren, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway and 19 more57 min
May 5, 4:55 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCFulton6 hr
May 5, 9:35 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCCalloway, Fulton5 hr
May 5, 11:06 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFulton114 min
May 5, 2:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFulton62 min
May 5, 2:35 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCFulton7 hr
May 5, 5:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBracken, Campbell, Grant, Greenup, Kenton, Lewis and 4 more5 hr
May 5, 6:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBath, Bourbon, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carter and 15 more88 min
May 4, 7:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarry, Barton, Cedar, Christian, Dade, Dallas and 18 more86 min
May 4, 9:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBates, Benton, Boone, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass and 23 more85 min
May 4, 9:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarry, Barton, Camden, Carter, Cedar, Christian and 28 more93 min
May 5, 12:50 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarry, Carter, Cedar, Christian, Dade, Dallas and 21 more5 hr
May 5, 1:05 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCDunklin3 hr
May 5, 3:25 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCDunklin, Pemiscot7 hr
May 5, 5:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDunklin, Pemiscot117 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2003Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2003Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2003Every tornado 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.