Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 796

December 8, 2009Ashley County, Chicot County, Union County, Arkansas; 20 parishes in Louisiana; 34 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 8, 2009, 1:25 PM CST for Ashley County, Chicot County, Union County, Arkansas; 20 parishes in Louisiana; 34 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 8, 2009, 1:25 PM CST (19:25 UTC)
Expired
Dec 8, 2009, 9:00 PM CST
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 57 counties

Ashley County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Union County, AR, Avoyelles Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Catahoula Parish, LA, Concordia Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Franklin Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Tensas Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Adams County, MS, Amite County, MS, Attala County, MS, Bolivar County, MS, Carroll County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Claiborne County, MS, Copiah County, MS, Franklin County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Hinds County, MS, Holmes County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Issaquena County, MS, Jefferson County, MS, Lawrence County, MS, Leake County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Lincoln County, MS, Madison County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Pike County, MS, Rankin County, MS, Scott County, MS, Sharkey County, MS, Simpson County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Walthall County, MS, Warren County, MS, Washington County, MS, Webster County, MS, Wilkinson County, MS, Winston County, MS, Yazoo County, MS

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:25 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
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
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
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 8, 4:51 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANBolivar39 min
Dec 8, 5:39 PM CSTTornado WarningJANRankin, Simpson, Smith51 min
Dec 8, 5:49 PM CSTTornado WarningJANCopiah, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Simpson39 min
Dec 8, 7:02 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANJasper, Scott, Smith28 min
Dec 8, 7:38 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningJANAttala, Carroll, Choctaw, Holmes, Montgomery, Webster4 hr
Dec 8, 7:58 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANMadison32 min
Dec 8, 8:14 PM CSTTornado WarningJANAttala, Leake, Madison31 min
Dec 8, 8:17 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningJANChoctaw, Clay, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Webster4 hr
Dec 8, 8:41 PM CSTTornado WarningJANAttala, Leake, Neshoba, Winston34 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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 142 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2009-12-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2009-12-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 264 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
495 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
71 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
389 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 8, 9:43 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 19 more2 hr
Dec 7, 10:41 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAssumption, Iberia, St. Mary, Terrebonne2 hr
Dec 8, 12:12 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia and 15 more93 min
Dec 8, 5:12 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lafayette and 8 more63 min
Dec 8, 5:48 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCAlcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lafayette and 9 more6 hr
Dec 8, 5:55 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClarke, Forrest, Jasper, Jones, Kemper, Lamar and 5 more95 min

Nearby

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