Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 227

May 2, 200927 counties in Alabama; 32 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 2, 2009, 2:55 PM CDT for 27 counties in Alabama; 32 counties in Mississippi. It took effect at May 2, 2009, 3:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2009, 2:55 PM CDT (19:55 UTC)
In effect from: May 2, 2009, 3:00 PM CDT
Expired: May 2, 2009, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 59 counties

Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Attala County, MS, Bolivar 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, Issaquena County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Leake County, MS, Lee County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Madison County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Sharkey County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Washington County, MS, Webster County, MS, Winston County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Yazoo County, MS

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:54 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: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 40%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 3:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	40 min
May 2, 3:17 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	3 hr
May 2, 3:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	52 min
May 2, 3:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion, Winston	43 min
May 2, 4:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion, Winston	30 min
May 2, 4:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar	55 min
May 2, 4:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar	59 min
May 2, 4:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Madison, Morgan	27 min
May 2, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lowndes	18 min
May 2, 4:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Coahoma, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica and 1 more	6 hr
May 2, 5:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lamar	28 min
May 2, 5:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Carroll, Holmes	59 min
May 2, 5:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette	58 min
May 2, 5:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar	67 min
May 2, 5:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Grenada, Montgomery, Webster	49 min
May 2, 5:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Carroll, Holmes	33 min
May 2, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker, Winston	42 min
May 2, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Humphreys, Leflore, Sunflower	39 min
May 2, 5:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Carroll, Holmes, Montgomery	58 min
May 2, 5:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore	42 min
May 2, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Walker	58 min
May 2, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Humphreys	60 min
May 2, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala	55 min
May 2, 6:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Walker	54 min
May 2, 7:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Walker	43 min
May 2, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Holmes, Humphreys, Sharkey, Washington	39 min
May 2, 7:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Holmes	37 min
May 2, 7:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Choctaw, Winston	32 min
May 2, 7:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	24 min
May 2, 7:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Humphreys	54 min
May 2, 7:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson, Walker	56 min
May 2, 7:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Choctaw, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Winston	51 min
May 2, 7:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Humphreys, Yazoo	51 min
May 2, 7:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala	31 min
May 2, 8:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Yazoo	58 min
May 2, 8:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Choctaw, Winston	44 min
May 2, 8:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson, St. Clair, Walker	41 min
May 2, 8:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Winston	60 min
May 2, 8:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Holmes	54 min
May 2, 8:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Noxubee, Winston	50 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, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 154 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: 116 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 442 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 300 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 2:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb and 20 more	97 min
May 2, 5:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Cullman and 20 more	53 min
May 2, 1:45 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Coahoma, DeSoto, Grenada and 12 more	90 min
May 2, 9:23 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bolivar, Coahoma, Washington	97 min
May 2, 3:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams	26 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2009 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2009 Every tornado watch in 2009

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.