Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 228

May 2, 200916 counties in Arkansas; 16 parishes in Louisiana; 33 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 2, 2009, 6:03 PM CDT for 16 counties in Arkansas; 16 parishes in Louisiana; 33 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2009, 6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 2009, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 65 counties

Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Howard County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Little River County, AR, Miller County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Union County, AR, Bienville Parish, LA, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Collin County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Delta County, TX, Denton County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Fannin County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Henderson County, TX, Hill County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Lamar County, TX, Marion County, TX, Morris County, TX, Navarro County, TX, Panola County, TX, Rains County, TX, Red River County, TX, Rockwall County, TX, Rusk County, TX, Smith County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Titus County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Van Zandt County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:03 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: 50%
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: 90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 6:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Little River	117 min
May 2, 6:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Denton	54 min
May 2, 6:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Lafayette, Miller	67 min
May 2, 6:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Howard, Little River, Miller, Sevier	65 min
May 2, 6:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Columbia, Lafayette, Miller	59 min
May 2, 6:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Columbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 2 more	14 hr
May 2, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Morehouse, West Carroll	40 min
May 2, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin, Dallas, Hunt, Kaufman, Rockwall	61 min
May 2, 6:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Bowie, Cass, Morris, Red River	14 hr
May 2, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Columbia, Lafayette, Nevada	62 min
May 2, 6:58 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Collin, Hunt, Kaufman, Rockwall	4 hr
May 2, 7:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Union	26 min
May 2, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Calhoun, Ouachita	67 min
May 2, 7:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Delta, Hopkins, Hunt, Rains, Van Zandt	66 min
May 2, 7:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Denton	62 min
May 2, 7:21 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Bradley, Desha, Drew, Lincoln	6 hr
May 2, 7:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Denton	3 hr
May 2, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Union	55 min
May 2, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Camp, Franklin, Gregg, Smith, Titus, Upshur and 1 more	52 min
May 2, 7:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hopkins, Rains, Van Zandt	3 hr
May 2, 8:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Bowie, Red River	7 hr
May 2, 8:21 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Camp, Franklin, Gregg, Red River, Smith, Titus and 2 more	3 hr
May 2, 8:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Union	38 min
May 2, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Denton, Parker, Tarrant, Wise	63 min
May 2, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bowie, Camp, Franklin, Gregg, Morris, Red River and 3 more	61 min
May 2, 8:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Camp, Franklin, Titus, Upshur, Wood	25 min
May 2, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Ashley	67 min
May 2, 8:48 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Tarrant	107 min
May 2, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Miller	55 min
May 2, 8:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Camp, Cass, Marion, Morris, Titus, Upshur	49 min
May 2, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Ellis, Hill	46 min
May 2, 9:08 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Little River	12 hr
May 2, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hunt, Kaufman, Rains, Van Zandt	46 min
May 2, 9:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Dallas	2 hr
May 2, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Dallas, Ellis	48 min
May 2, 9:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	East Carroll, Morehouse, Richland, West Carroll	42 min
May 2, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin, Dallas, Fannin, Grayson, Rockwall	32 min
May 2, 10:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Kaufman, Rockwall	66 min
May 2, 10:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Fannin, Hunt	61 min
May 2, 10:16 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Columbia, Union	8 hr
May 2, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	East Carroll, Madison	41 min
May 2, 10:23 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Howard, Nevada, Sevier	4 hr
May 2, 10:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hopkins, Rains, Van Zandt	3 hr
May 2, 10:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Delta, Hopkins, Lamar, Rains	76 min
May 2, 10:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Collin, Hunt, Kaufman, Rockwall	2 hr
May 2, 11:14 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Camp, Franklin, Morris, Red River, Titus, Upshur and 1 more	11 hr
May 2, 11:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Camp, Franklin, Morris, Red River, Titus, Upshur and 1 more	61 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

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 126 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: 1211 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 9:36 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Conway and 34 more	84 min
May 1, 9:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Arkansas, Clark, Cleburne, Conway, Crawford, Faulkner and 27 more	6 hr
May 2, 1:45 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arkansas, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway, Crittenden and 34 more	90 min
May 2, 9:23 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 26 more	97 min
May 2, 12:17 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 19 more	7 hr
May 2, 3:47 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Drew, Lafayette and 5 more	58 min
May 2, 5:25 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Drew, Lafayette and 4 more	95 min
May 2, 3:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne and 19 more	26 min
May 2, 5:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, De Soto and 12 more	65 min
May 1, 7:19 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Cooke, Cottle and 21 more	86 min
May 2, 2:58 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Collingsworth, Gray, Hemphill, Wheeler	3 hr
May 2, 1:24 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Burnet, Collin, Coryell and 31 more	66 min
May 2, 1:56 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Dallas, Ellis, Falls and 18 more	4 hr
May 2, 6:49 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Camp, Cass, Franklin, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman and 7 more	86 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2009 Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2009 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 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.