Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 944

November 12, 20039 counties in Indiana; 41 counties in Ohio; Jackson County, West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 12, 2003, 3:20 PM EST for 9 counties in Indiana; 41 counties in Ohio; Jackson County, West Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Nov 12, 2003, 3:20 PM EST (20:20 UTC)
Expired
Nov 12, 2003, 9:00 PM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 51 counties

Adams County, IN, Dearborn County, IN, Fayette County, IN, Franklin County, IN, Jay County, IN, Randolph County, IN, Union County, IN, Wayne County, IN, Wells County, IN, Athens County, OH, Auglaize County, OH, Butler County, OH, Champaign County, OH, Clark County, OH, Clermont County, OH, Clinton County, OH, Coshocton County, OH, Darke County, OH, Delaware County, OH, Fairfield County, OH, Fayette County, OH, Franklin County, OH, Greene County, OH, Hamilton County, OH, Hardin County, OH, Highland County, OH, Hocking County, OH, Holmes County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Knox County, OH, Licking County, OH, Logan County, OH, Madison County, OH, Marion County, OH, Meigs County, OH, Mercer County, OH, Miami County, OH, Montgomery County, OH, Morgan County, OH, Morrow County, OH, Muskingum County, OH, Perry County, OH, Pickaway County, OH, Pike County, OH, Preble County, OH, Ross County, OH, Shelby County, OH, Union County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Warren County, OH, Jackson County, WV

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:20 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 12, 5:23 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford, Marion67 min
Nov 12, 5:43 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNLogan, Union47 min
Nov 12, 5:47 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILNLogan, Union43 min
Nov 12, 5:49 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEMorrow, Richland56 min
Nov 12, 6:00 PM ESTTornado WarningCLECrawford, Morrow30 min
Nov 12, 7:23 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEHolmes37 min
Nov 12, 7:28 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZCoshocton62 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

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 62 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2003-11-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2003-11-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 50 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
604 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
98 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 122018
SEL4  
SPC WW 122020
INZ000-OHZ000-130200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 944 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
320 PM EST WED NOV 12 2003

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

       SOUTHEAST INDIANA
       SOUTHERN OHIO

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 320 PM UNTIL
900 PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES WEST OF DAYTON OHIO TO 25 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF ZANESVILLE OHIO.

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...CONTINUE...WW 943...


DISCUSSION...STORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY VICINITY WRN OH/IN
BORDER AHEAD OF STRONG TROUGH AND VIGOROUS JET.  WITH SUFFICIENT
INSTABILITY AVAILABLE...ALONG WITH 200-300 J/KG HELICITY...TORNADIC
SUPERCELLS ARE POSSIBLE AS THE ACTIVITY DEVELOPS RAPIDLY EWD ACROSS
SRN OH.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26050.


...HALES

404,0851 403,0813 384,0813 390,0851

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 12, 12:45 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange and 5 more3 hr
Nov 12, 2:36 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBartholomew, Brown, Clark, Crawford, Dearborn, Decatur and 20 more2 hr
Nov 12, 3:26 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Allen, Blackford, DeKalb, Delaware, Jay and 2 more2 hr
Nov 12, 6:13 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Dearborn, Fayette, Franklin, Jay, Randolph and 3 more2 hr
Nov 12, 1:50 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Crawford and 30 more5 hr
Nov 12, 4:40 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCAshland, Ashtabula, Columbiana, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Erie and 19 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2003Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2003Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 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.