Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 208
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 18, 2008, 6:43 PM CDT for 12 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Florida. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 18, 2008, 6:43 PM CDT (23:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 19, 2008, 2:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Baldwin County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:43 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 10%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 50%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 7:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Washington | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 8:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke, Washington | 51 min |
| Apr 18, 8:46 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Washington | 3 hr |
| Apr 18, 9:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Washington | 44 min |
| Apr 18, 9:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke, Monroe, Washington | 49 min |
| Apr 18, 10:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Conecuh, Monroe | 48 min |
| Apr 18, 10:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Clarke, Conecuh, Monroe | 40 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 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 192 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 36 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 623 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 225 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 290 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 5:08 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Colbert, Cullman, Fayette, Franklin, Lamar and 9 more | 37 min |
| Apr 18, 6:07 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Escambia and 7 more | 53 min |
| Apr 18, 3:07 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, Tunica | 113 min |
| Apr 18, 3:24 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Amite, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, Hinds and 13 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 18, 3:43 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, George, Greene and 27 more | 7 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2008Tornado Watches in Florida, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008
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.