Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 787

December 2, 200910 counties in Alabama; 15 counties in Florida; 14 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 2, 2009, 3:11 AM CST for 10 counties in Alabama; 15 counties in Florida; 14 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 2, 2009, 3:11 AM CST (09:11 UTC)
Expired
Dec 2, 2009, 9:33 AM CST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 39 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Baker County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Clay County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Early County, GA, Grady County, GA, Lee County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Terrell County, GA

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:15 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
40%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 2, 4:26 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBaldwin, Escambia49 min
Dec 2, 5:05 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBConecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia40 min
Dec 2, 5:15 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAECoffee, Geneva49 min
Dec 2, 5:41 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEBay45 min
Dec 2, 6:54 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCovington, Escambia51 min
Dec 2, 7:04 AM CSTTornado WarningMOBOkaloosa41 min
Dec 2, 7:14 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEHouston31 min
Dec 2, 7:26 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEHouston34 min
Dec 2, 7:35 AM CSTFlash Flood WarningMOBOkaloosa, Santa Rosa115 min
Dec 2, 7:51 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEEarly, Miller24 min
Dec 2, 8:00 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEBay, Franklin, Gulf45 min
Dec 2, 8:25 AM CSTTornado WarningTAEGeneva23 min
Dec 2, 9:04 AM CSTTornado WarningTAELeon, Liberty, Wakulla26 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

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 00:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 216 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2009-12-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2009-12-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 306 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
598 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
306 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
388 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 1, 11:10 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Covington, Escambia, Geneva2 hr
Dec 2, 5:02 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Dale, Escambia and 4 more58 min
Dec 2, 8:52 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist and 9 more83 min
Dec 2, 9:32 AM CSTTornado WatchSPCColumbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton and 8 more6 hr
Dec 2, 11:48 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist and 9 more117 min
Dec 2, 1:46 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 14 more7 hr
Dec 2, 5:39 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 12 more96 min
Dec 2, 12:31 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Bleckley, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler and 23 more89 min
Dec 2, 1:08 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCBryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Columbia and 11 more8 hr
Dec 2, 4:44 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Columbia and 11 more91 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2009Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2009Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2009Every 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.