Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 939

October 26, 20036 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Florida; 9 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 26, 2003, 2:00 AM CST for 6 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Florida; 9 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 26, 2003, 2:00 AM CST (08:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 26, 2003, 7:00 AM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Baldwin County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Washington County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jones County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:00 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 26, 2:39 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest, Lamar	61 min
Oct 26, 2:52 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Perry, Stone	38 min
Oct 26, 3:47 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Greene	28 min
Oct 26, 3:56 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	George	34 min
Oct 26, 4:08 AM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Greene	22 min
Oct 26, 4:26 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Greene	34 min
Oct 26, 4:30 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile, Washington	30 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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 1569 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 7.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 260802
SEL9  
SPC WW 260800
ALZ000-FLZ000-MSZ000-261300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 939 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
200 AM CST SUN OCT 26 2003

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

       SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
       WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY MORNING FROM 200 AM UNTIL 700 AM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 55 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF MOBILE ALABAMA TO 30
MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF MOBILE ALABAMA.

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.




DISCUSSION...ERN MS FORWARD-PROPAGATING MCS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE
SLOWLY EWD...WITH WIND/INSTABILITY PROFILES REMAINING FAVORABLE FOR
BACK-BUILDING/REGENERATIVE DEVELOPMENT ON SRN END.  CHANNEL OF VERY
MOIST LOW LEVEL ESE FLOW EXTENDING FROM THE NERN GULF/FL PANHANDLE
REGION WWD INTO SRN END OF MCS SHOULD ALSO REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR THE
PERIODIC DEVELOPMENT OF EMBEDDED ROTATING STORMS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25015.


...CORFIDI

314,0861 302,0871 302,0901 314,0891

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 26, 1:40 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Choctaw	95 min
Oct 26, 5:24 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Conecuh, Covington, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe	96 min
Oct 26, 6:05 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh and 14 more	5 hr
Oct 26, 9:23 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw and 11 more	67 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2003 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2003 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2003 Every 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.