Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 346

May 30, 20048 counties in Arkansas; 16 parishes in Louisiana; Issaquena County, Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 30, 2004, 10:35 PM CDT for 8 counties in Arkansas; 16 parishes in Louisiana; Issaquena County, Mississippi. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 30, 2004, 10:35 PM CDT (03:35 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2004, 4:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Drew County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Miller County, AR, Union County, AR, Bienville Parish, LA, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Issaquena County, MS

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:34 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
May 30, 10:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bossier, Caddo	57 min
May 30, 10:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Union	64 min
May 30, 11:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Drew	3 hr
May 30, 11:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Ashley, Chicot	6 hr
May 30, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Ashley	61 min
May 31, 12:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Chicot	45 min
May 31, 12:40 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Bradley	90 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

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 00:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 3106 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 919 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 170 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.9
Supercell composite: 13.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 310333
SEL6  
SPC WW 310335
ARZ000-LAZ000-310900-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 346
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1035 PM CDT SUN MAY 30 2004

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

       SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
       NORTHERN LOUISIANA

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING FROM 1035 PM UNTIL
400 AM CDT.

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

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES SOUTH OF GREENVILLE MISSISSIPPI TO
15 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF SHREVEPORT LOUISIANA.

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 336...WW 341...WW 343...WW
344...WW 345...

DISCUSSION...SHEAR AND INSTABILITY PARAMETERS REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR
SUPERCELLS AND POSSIBLE TORNADOES WITH THUNDERSTORMS SHIFT ESEWD
ACROSS WW THIS EVENING.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND 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 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26030.


...EVANS

321,0905 315,0935 332,0935 334,0905

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 8:54 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Cleveland and 8 more	66 min
May 30, 8:55 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Avoyelles, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula and 23 more	65 min
May 31, 1:27 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bienville, Caldwell, De Soto, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson and 7 more	2 hr
May 31, 9:21 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson and 14 more	54 min
May 31, 10:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Orleans and 10 more	6 hr
May 31, 1:06 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Orleans and 10 more	54 min
May 30, 9:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Chickasaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe, Prentiss and 1 more	7 hr
May 30, 10:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll and 31 more	5 hr
May 30, 11:05 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Itawamba, Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tishomingo	55 min
May 31, 1:06 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Monroe	84 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2004 Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2004 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2004 Every tornado watch in 2004

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.