Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 866

October 19, 200422 counties in Alabama; Holmes County, Jackson County, Florida; 27 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 19, 2004, 12:00 PM CDT for 22 counties in Alabama; Holmes County, Jackson County, Florida; 27 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 19, 2004, 12:00 PM CDT (17:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 19, 2004, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 51 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Claiborne County, MS, Clarke County, MS, Copiah County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Franklin County, MS, Greene County, MS, Hinds County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lawrence County, MS, Lincoln County, MS, Madison County, MS, Marion County, MS, Newton County, MS, Perry County, MS, Pike County, MS, Rankin County, MS, Scott County, MS, Simpson County, MS, Smith County, MS, Walthall County, MS, Warren County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:00 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 19, 2:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	41 min
Oct 19, 3:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Holmes, Madison, Yazoo	35 min
Oct 19, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	47 min
Oct 19, 4:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	31 min
Oct 19, 4:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	43 min
Oct 19, 4:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	49 min
Oct 19, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lauderdale	44 min
Oct 19, 4:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	33 min
Oct 19, 5:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lowndes	45 min
Oct 19, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	37 min
Oct 19, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	45 min
Oct 19, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	11 min
Oct 19, 5:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Geneva	37 min
Oct 19, 5:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marengo	64 min
Oct 19, 5:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lowndes	46 min
Oct 19, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe, Wilcox	37 min
Oct 19, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Geneva	33 min
Oct 19, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Newton	51 min
Oct 19, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh, Monroe	32 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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 2735 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 247 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.8
Supercell composite: 16.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 191659
SEL6  
SPC WW 191700
ALZ000-FLZ000-MSZ000-200000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 866
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1200 PM CDT TUE OCT 19 2004

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

       SOUTHERN ALABAMA
       WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM NOON UNTIL 700
PM 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 55 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF JACKSON
MISSISSIPPI TO 25 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF DOTHAN 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 865...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE INCREASING IN NUMBER AND INTENSITY
OVER WATCH AREA.  WITH A VERY MOIST...UNSTABLE AIR MASS AND MDT-STG
SHEAR PROFILES...CONDITIONS FAVOR DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS. LOW LCLS AND 20-30KT OF SFC-1 KM SHEAR PROVIDE A
THREAT OF TORNADOES WITH ANY SUPERCELL THAT DEVELOPS.

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 25030.


...HALES

324,0905 321,0850 303,0850 311,0905

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 18, 7:10 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Lamar and 8 more	4 hr
Oct 18, 10:33 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Limestone	117 min
Oct 18, 10:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 1 more	5 hr
Oct 19, 2:04 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and 2 more	86 min
Oct 19, 3:34 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence and 4 more	26 min
Oct 19, 3:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin and 9 more	4 hr
Oct 19, 7:08 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson and 6 more	2 hr
Oct 19, 9:05 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay and 20 more	7 hr
Oct 19, 11:06 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh and 10 more	84 min
Oct 19, 1:15 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay and 20 more	90 min
Oct 19, 3:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 43 more	67 min
Oct 19, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Dallas and 16 more	6 hr
Oct 19, 5:48 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 13 more	117 min
Oct 19, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh and 16 more	4 hr
Oct 18, 9:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alcorn, Benton	2 hr
Oct 19, 1:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Franklin, Hancock, Issaquena, Jefferson and 3 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2004 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2004 Tornado Watches in Florida, 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.