Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 21

January 11, 20086 counties in Alabama; 15 counties in Florida; 22 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 11, 2008, 1:21 AM CST for 6 counties in Alabama; 15 counties in Florida; 22 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 11, 2008, 1:21 AM CST (07:21 UTC)
Expired: Jan 11, 2008, 8:00 AM CST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 43 counties

Coffee County, AL, Covington County, AL, Dale County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Jefferson County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Baker County, GA, Ben Hill County, GA, Berrien County, GA, Brooks County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Clay County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Cook County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Early County, GA, Grady County, GA, Irwin County, GA, Lee County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Thomas County, GA, Tift County, GA, Turner County, GA, Worth County, GA

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: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 5%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

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
Jan 11, 1:28 AM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington	17 min
Jan 11, 1:28 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Coffee, Dale	32 min
Jan 11, 2:14 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Henry	46 min
Jan 11, 2:27 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Coffee, Dale	33 min
Jan 11, 2:43 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Dale	32 min
Jan 11, 4:39 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Houston	36 min
Jan 11, 5:24 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Baker, Early, Miller	36 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 00:00Z, 7.4 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: 53 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 713 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 190 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 110723
SEL1  
SPC WW 110723
ALZ000-FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-111300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 21
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
125 AM CST FRI JAN 11 2008

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

       SOUTHEAST ALABAMA
       THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       SOUTHWEST GEORGIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY MORNING FROM 125 AM UNTIL 700 AM CST.

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 APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 55 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTHWEST OF PANAMA
CITY FLORIDA TO 35 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF VALDOSTA GEORGIA. 
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).

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 20...

DISCUSSION...LINE OF TSTMS/SUPERCELLS ALONG SE AL/WRN FL PANHANDLE
COLD FRONT SHOULD CONTINUE EWD INTO REMAINING POCKET OF FAIRLY RICH
GULF AIR /DEWPOINTS IN THE MID 60S/.  COUPLED WITH EXISTING MODERATE
TO STRONG LOW TO MIDLEVEL SHEAR AND...POSSIBLY...SOME LARGE SCALE
ASCENT PROVIDED BY TROUGH AXIS NOW ENTERING ERN MS...SETUP MAY
SUPPORT ISOLD TORNADOES IN ADDITION TO BOWING SEGMENTS WITH HIGH
WIND.

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 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 10, 7:52 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 33 more	53 min
Jan 10, 9:38 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Coffee, Conecuh and 16 more	67 min
Jan 11, 4:30 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Houston	90 min
Jan 10, 6:29 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin and 12 more	61 min
Jan 10, 11:18 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Bleckley, Calhoun, Chattahoochee, Clay, Crawford and 23 more	87 min
Jan 10, 11:55 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Chattahoochee, Clay, Crawford and 39 more	6 hr
Jan 11, 2:05 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Burke, Columbia, Emanuel, Glascock, Greene and 13 more	85 min
Jan 11, 3:27 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bleckley, Calhoun, Clay, Crisp, Dodge, Dooly and 14 more	63 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2008 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2008 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2008 Every 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.