Alert archive / Arkansas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 2000

August 18, 201117 counties in Arkansas; 7 counties in Mississippi; 5 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Aug 18, 2011, 7:41 AM CDT for 17 counties in Arkansas; 7 counties in Mississippi; 5 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 18, 2011, 7:41 AM CDT (12:41 UTC)
Expired
Aug 18, 2011, 10:15 AM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 29 counties

Baxter County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crittenden County, AR, Cross County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lee County, AR, Phillips County, AR, Poinsett County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Sharp County, AR, St. Francis County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Douglas County, MO, Howell County, MO, Oregon County, MO, Ozark County, MO, Ripley County, MO, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Panola County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tunica County, MS

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:41 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 120 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2011-08-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2202 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2011-08-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 79 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2202 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-101 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1370 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

819 
ACUS11 KWNS 181242
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 181241
TNZ000-ARZ000-MSZ000-MOZ000-181515-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2000
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0741 AM CDT THU AUG 18 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS SRN MO...NRN/ERN AR...EXTREME SWRN
TN...NWRN MS.

CONCERNING...HEAVY RAINFALL

VALID 181241Z - 181515Z

POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR MERGER OF CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS OVER DISCUSSION
AREA THAT THEN WOULD MOVE/SPREAD SEWD THROUGH AT LEAST
15Z...RESULTING IN EXPANSION OF AREA OF 2-3 INCH/HOUR RAIN RATES IN
HEAVIEST CORES.  SHORTER-LIVED EPISODE OF SIMILAR RATES IS LIKELY AT
ANY GIVEN LOCATION AFFECTED BY NEARBY BAND OF TSTMS MOVING EWD ABOUT
20 KT ACROSS OZARKS OF S-CENTRAL MO AND EXTREME NRN AR.

FAVORABLE CAPE AND LIKELIHOOD OF DENSE PRECIP LOADING ALSO MAY
SUPPORT LOCALIZED POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WET DOWNBURSTS...BUT
PRIMARY THREAT APPEARS TO BE FROM HEAVY RAIN.

INITIALLY SEPARATE/MESOBETA-SCALE MULTICELLULAR TSTM COMPLEXES HAVE
DEVELOPED OVER PORTIONS NERN AR--
1. BAND OF TSTMS LOCATED BETWEEN SGT-ARG..EXPANDING IN COVERAGE AND
MOVING SEWD ABOUT 20 KT...AND
2. SOMEWHAT LESS-INTENSE BUT WELL-DEFINED CLUSTER INITIALLY FROM MEM
AREA NNWWD TOWARD JBR AND NWD TO JUST S OF MO BOOT-HEEL.  CELLS IN
THIS COMPLEX ARE MOVING SSEWD...BUT OVERALL CLUSTER IS BACKBUILDING
SWWD TOWARD POTENTIAL MERGER ZONE WITH WRN COMPLEX.

PRIND MERGER WILL OCCUR THROUGH 14Z FROM PORTIONS POINSETT/CROSS
COUNTIES SSEWD OVER DELTA ADJACENT TO NRN PORTIONS MS/AR BORDER.
MEANWHILE MO/AR BORDER-AREA BANDS WILL PROCEED EWD ACROSS UNO AREA.
VERY MOISTURE-RICH ENVIRONMENT IS EVIDENT...BASED ON 12Z SGF RAOB
THAT SAMPLED UPSTREAM 850-MB TRAJECTORIES...YIELDING PW BETWEEN
2-2.25 INCHES...MEAN MIXING RATIO NEAR 19 G/KG AND MUCAPE OVER 4000
J/KG.  PW APPEARS SOMEWHAT UNDER-REPRESENTED IN OBJECTIVE/RUC-BASED
MESOANALYSES OVER SRN MO BASED ON THAT RAOB...BUT APPEARS REASONABLE
FARTHER SE OVER ERN AR.

..EDWARDS.. 08/18/2011

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...PAH...MEG...JAN...LZK...SGF...

LAT...LON   34479109 35489161 36639276 37129295 37089179 36899077
            35959033 35278998 34588990 33959001 33889071 34179110
            34479109

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 18, 1:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington and 34 more116 min
Aug 18, 2:40 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBollinger, Cape Girardeau, Madison, Mississippi, Perry, Scott and 2 more2 hr
Aug 18, 2:51 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Holt, Nodaway, Worth84 min
Aug 18, 6:00 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrew, Atchison, Bates, Benton, Buchanan, Caldwell and 21 more60 min
Aug 18, 6:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Holt27 min
Aug 18, 6:38 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAndrew, Atchison, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Harrison and 3 more5 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Arkansas, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Mississippi, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Missouri, 2011Every mesoscale discussion in 2011

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.