Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 883
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 2, 2008, 4:38 PM CDT for 7 counties in Arkansas; 6 counties in Mississippi; Shelby County, Tipton County, Tennessee. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 2, 2008, 4:38 PM CDT (21:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 2, 2008, 7:27 PM CDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Lee County, AR, Mississippi County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, DeSoto County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Panola County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Shelby County, TN, Tipton County, TN
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:39 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
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 10%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 30%
Warnings issued inside it
2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2, 4:38 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Tate | 22 min |
| Sep 2, 5:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MEG | Lafayette, Marshall, Tate | 23 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, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 33 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
- 409 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 483 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 258 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 226 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 022141
SEL3
SPC WW 022141
ARZ000-MSZ000-TNZ000-030200-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 883
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
440 PM CDT TUE SEP 2 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EASTERN ARKANSAS
NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN TENNESSEE
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 440 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 0.5 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 30 STATUTE
MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTHWEST OF MEMPHIS
TENNESSEE TO 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF OXFORD MISSISSIPPI. FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU3).
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 882...
DISCUSSION...SMALL BAND OF ROTATING STORMS HAD DEVELOPED ALONG AN
OUTER BAND THAT WAS LOCATED WITHIN AN AREA OF SURFACE TEMPERATURES
IN THE LOWER TO MID 80S. THIS ADDED INSTABILITY AND 1 KM SHEAR
AROUND 30 KT WILL LIKELY CONTINUE A THREAT FOR ROTATING STORMS AND A
FEW TORNADOES AS THE STORMS SHIFT NNWWD. THE TORNADO THREAT SHOULD
DIMINISH BETWEEN 00-02Z WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 0.5 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 15030.
...IMYSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 11:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ashley, Chicot | 59 min |
| Sep 2, 6:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross and 10 more | 2 hr |
| Sep 1, 11:41 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Forrest and 25 more | 7 hr |
| Sep 2, 3:42 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin and 26 more | 93 min |
| Sep 2, 6:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Amite, Attala, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Forrest and 25 more | 56 min |
| Sep 2, 6:34 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne and 46 more | 9 hr |
| Sep 2, 3:11 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne and 46 more | 64 min |
| Sep 2, 3:54 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Covington, Franklin and 22 more | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2008Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2008Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 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.