Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 963

November 18, 200317 counties in Alabama; 9 counties in Florida; 23 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 18, 2003, 4:55 PM CST for 17 counties in Alabama; 9 counties in Florida; 23 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Nov 18, 2003, 4:55 PM CST (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Nov 18, 2003, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 49 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lee County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Calhoun County, GA, Chattahoochee County, GA, Clay County, GA, Early County, GA, Harris County, GA, Lamar County, GA, Marion County, GA, Meriwether County, GA, Miller County, GA, Muscogee County, GA, Pike County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Schley County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Stewart County, GA, Talbot County, GA, Taylor County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Troup County, GA, Upson County, GA, Webster County, GA

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
Nov 18, 6:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	41 min
Nov 18, 7:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Dale	44 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

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 159 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 804 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 138 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 182257
SEL3  
SPC WW 182255
ALZ000-FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-190400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 963 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
555 PM EST TUE NOV 18 2003

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

       EAST ALABAMA
       FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       WESTERN GEORGIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 555 PM UNTIL
1100 PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF LA GRANGE GEORGIA TO 40
MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF PANAMA CITY FLORIDA.

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 960. WATCH NUMBER 960 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 555
PM EST. CONTINUE...WW 961...WW 962...


DISCUSSION...SQUALL LINE WILL CONTINUE EWD ACROSS ERN AL/FL
PANHANDLE. AIR MASS AHEAD OF LINE MARGINALLY UNSTABLE AND VERY MOIST
WITH STRONG DEEP LAYER SHEAR.  HELICITIES OF 200-300 M2/S2 AND 50KT
OF SFC-6KM SHEAR SUPPORT CONTINUED THREAT OF TORNADOES AND DAMAGING
WINDS...PARTICULARLY IN BOWING SEGMENTS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22040.


...HALES

331,0835 294,0845 294,0865 331,0855

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 18, 6:08 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Choctaw, Colbert, Franklin, Lamar, Marion, Pickens and 1 more	2 hr
Nov 18, 6:55 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Choctaw, Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Lamar and 9 more	5 hr
Nov 18, 8:58 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw and 4 more	92 min
Nov 18, 10:30 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Chilton, Choctaw and 26 more	90 min
Nov 18, 11:25 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Calhoun and 38 more	6 hr
Nov 18, 1:33 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	DeKalb, Jackson, Madison	57 min
Nov 18, 1:55 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	DeKalb, Jackson	5 hr
Nov 18, 1:59 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers and 23 more	91 min
Nov 18, 4:31 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne and 16 more	29 min
Nov 18, 3:26 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Murray, Whitfield	94 min
Nov 18, 4:58 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Murray, Walker and 1 more	32 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 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.