Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 47

February 6, 200812 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 6, 2008, 5:04 AM CST for 12 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Florida. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 6, 2008, 5:04 AM CST (11:04 UTC)
Expired: Feb 6, 2008, 10:00 AM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 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), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:04 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: 20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 6, 5:30 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and 1 more	60 min
Feb 6, 6:05 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Mobile	55 min
Feb 6, 6:13 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Monroe, Wilcox	62 min
Feb 6, 6:30 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia and 2 more	60 min
Feb 6, 7:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	60 min
Feb 6, 7:14 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw	61 min
Feb 6, 7:29 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia, Monroe	61 min
Feb 6, 8:16 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw	59 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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 00:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 132 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: 179 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -156 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 764 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000
WWUS20 KWNS 061104
SEL7  
SPC WW 061104
ALZ000-FLZ000-CWZ000-061600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 47
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
505 AM CST WED FEB 6 2008

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

       SOUTHERN ALABAMA
       WESTERN FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 505 AM UNTIL 1000 AM CST.

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 APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES NORTH OF EVERGREEN
ALABAMA TO 20 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF PENSACOLA FLORIDA.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).

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 44...WW 46...

DISCUSSION...THREAT FOR SUPERCELLS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL
CONTINUE ACROSS WW THIS MORNING AHEAD OF STRONG UPPER SYSTEM AND
ASSOCIATED SURFACE COLD FRONT.  ISOLATED LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS.

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
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23035.


...EVANS

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 5, 9:39 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Colbert, Cullman, Fayette, Franklin, Jackson and 10 more	96 min
Feb 5, 10:01 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah and 23 more	8 hr
Feb 6, 1:23 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Choctaw, Clarke, Mobile, Washington	6 hr
Feb 6, 2:41 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman and 25 more	2 hr
Feb 6, 4:06 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton and 24 more	6 hr
Feb 6, 4:27 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 7 more	2 hr
Feb 6, 6:10 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun and 34 more	2 hr
Feb 6, 7:06 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Dale, Geneva and 6 more	6 hr
Feb 6, 10:20 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry and 3 more	85 min
Feb 6, 1:52 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Columbia, Duval, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 10 more	53 min

Nearby

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