Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 277

May 8, 200815 counties in Alabama; 28 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 2008, 8:04 AM CDT for 15 counties in Alabama; 28 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2008, 8:04 AM CDT (13:04 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2008, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 43 counties

Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Alcorn County, MS, Attala County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Carroll County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Clay County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Holmes County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Union County, MS, Webster County, MS, Winston County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 36 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:04 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: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 8:26 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Lee, Prentiss, Tishomingo	49 min
May 8, 8:33 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Lee, Pontotoc	6 hr
May 8, 8:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin	50 min
May 8, 9:09 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Prentiss, Tishomingo	21 min
May 8, 9:30 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin	33 min
May 8, 10:37 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lee, Prentiss	38 min
May 8, 11:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tishomingo	44 min
May 8, 11:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Monroe	46 min
May 8, 12:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lauderdale	17 min
May 8, 12:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence	40 min
May 8, 12:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lawrence	47 min
May 8, 12:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lowndes	23 min
May 8, 12:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Walker, Winston	38 min
May 8, 1:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lauderdale, Limestone	27 min
May 8, 1:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Marion, Walker, Winston	55 min
May 8, 1:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Pickens, Tuscaloosa	47 min
May 8, 1:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	37 min
May 8, 1:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Walker	53 min
May 8, 1:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Jefferson, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Walker	31 min
May 8, 1:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Kemper, Noxubee	18 min
May 8, 1:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Walker, Winston	16 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

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 147 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 517 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:48 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Lamar, Lawrence, Marion and 3 more	87 min
May 8, 10:07 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton and 33 more	83 min
May 8, 12:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Perry and 4 more	92 min
May 8, 12:37 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Jackson and 7 more	83 min
May 8, 12:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw and 29 more	5 hr
May 8, 3:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton and 17 more	2 hr
May 7, 10:28 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams	92 min
May 7, 11:49 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Franklin and 25 more	116 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.