Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 86

March 28, 200916 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 28, 2009, 2:20 AM CDT for 16 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 28, 2009, 2:20 AM CDT (07:20 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 2009, 5:00 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lawrence County, MS, Marion County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Scott County, MS, Simpson County, MS, Smith County, MS

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:21 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: 30%
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: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 2:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington	25 min
Mar 28, 2:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Smith	34 min
Mar 28, 3:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper	42 min
Mar 28, 3:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke, Lauderdale, Newton	58 min
Mar 28, 4:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Kemper, Lauderdale	29 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 00:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 74 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: 602 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1068 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 5.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

646 
WWUS20 KWNS 280715
SEL6  
SPC WW 280715
MSZ000-281000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 86
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
215 AM CDT SAT MAR 28 2009

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY MORNING FROM 215 AM UNTIL 500 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 35 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PINE
BELT MISSISSIPPI TO 40 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MERIDIAN
MISSISSIPPI.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).

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 84...WW 85...

DISCUSSION...EXTENSION OF TORNADO WATCH 83.  STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR A FEW MORE HOURS AHEAD OF
STRONG SURFACE COLD FRONT.  LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED DAMAGING WINDS
WILL ACCOMPANY STRONGER CORES...WITH ADDITIONAL THREAT OF ISOLATED
TORNADOES GIVEN THE STRONG LOW LEVEL SHEAR IN PLACE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...EVANS

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 27, 7:51 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington and 29 more	9 hr
Mar 27, 8:21 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and 4 more	84 min
Mar 27, 10:09 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Perry and 2 more	9 hr
Mar 27, 11:06 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington and 29 more	84 min
Mar 27, 11:51 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Perry and 2 more	84 min
Mar 28, 1:33 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Amite, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Jefferson Davis and 17 more	27 min
Mar 28, 3:14 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	George, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Perry, Stone and 1 more	61 min
Mar 28, 4:25 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clarke, Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison and 8 more	35 min
Mar 28, 4:50 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	George, Greene, Perry, Stone, Wayne	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 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.