Alert archive / Arkansas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 538

April 23, 201127 counties in Arkansas; 10 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Apr 23, 2011, 5:02 PM CDT for 27 counties in Arkansas; 10 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 23, 2011, 5:02 PM CDT (22:02 UTC)
Expired
Apr 23, 2011, 6:00 PM CDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties

Baxter County, AR, Clay County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Conway County, AR, Craighead County, AR, Crawford County, AR, Franklin County, AR, Greene County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Logan County, AR, Madison County, AR, Marion County, AR, Newton County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sebastian County, AR, Sharp County, AR, Stone County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, Washington County, AR, Yell County, AR, Adair County, OK, Atoka County, OK, Choctaw County, OK, Haskell County, OK, Latimer County, OK, LeFlore County, OK, McCurtain County, OK, Pittsburg County, OK, Pushmataha County, OK, Sequoyah County, OK

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:05 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 172 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2011-04-23Temperature 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 2011-04-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 185 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
1105 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
514 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

287 
ACUS11 KWNS 232202
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 232202 
ARZ000-MOZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-232300-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0538
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0502 PM CDT SAT APR 23 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...NRN AR...SERN OK

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...TORNADO WATCH LIKELY 

VALID 232202Z - 232300Z

INCREASING THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE IS ANTICIPATED OVER THE NEXT FEW
HRS ACROSS PORTIONS OF SERN OK AND NRN AR...ALTHOUGH STILL SOMEWHAT
UNCERTAIN DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF AMPLE CLOUD COVER. SHOULD
CONVECTION BECOME ROOTED IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER...A THREAT OF DMGG
WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND PERHAPS ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL LIKELY
DEVELOP. A TORNADO WATCH WILL LIKELY BE CONSIDERED SOON...AND PARTS
OF SERN OK CURRENTLY INCLUDED WITHIN SVR WW 187 MAY NEED TO BE
UPGRADED TO A TORNADO WATCH.

RECENT SATELLITE TRENDS INDICATE SOME ENHANCEMENT IN CONVECTION
ACROSS ERN OK INTO NWRN AR ACROSS A STALLED FRONT...AIDED BY WEAK
CONVERGENCE ALONG THE FRONT WITH LOW-LEVEL ISENTROPIC ASCENT FOCUSED
N OF THE FRONT. ADDITIONALLY...WEAK DEEP-LAYER ASCENT APPEARS TO BE
OVERSPREADING THE REGION FROM THE SRN PLAINS /PER WATER VAPOR
IMAGERY/. DESPITE PERSISTENT CLOUD COVER ACROSS THE WARM
SECTOR...TEMPERATURES HAVE HEATED INTO THE MID-UPPER 70S. AMPLE
LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE COMBINED WITH THE PRESENCE OF AN EML OVERHEAD HAS
YIELDED MLCAPE VALUES RANGING BETWEEN 1500-2500 J/KG...WITH LITTLE
TO NO CINH. SHORT TERM HI-RES MODEL GUIDANCE INDICATES AN UPSWING IN
SFC-BASED CONVECTION THROUGH 00Z. KINEMATIC FIELDS WILL BE FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELLS...GIVEN EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR 40-50 KTS.
ADDITIONALLY...THE POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES MAY ALSO
EXIST...PARTICULARLY ALONG THE STALLED FRONT WHERE 0-1 KM SRH
HELICITY IS MAXIMIZED /200-250 M^2 S^-2/.

..ROGERS.. 04/23/2011

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

ATTN...WFO...MEG...LZK...SHV...TSA...FWD...OUN...

LAT...LON   35959002 35559153 35209292 34269410 34009450 33859535
            34129605 34419631 35089567 35749493 36119432 36189354
            36309309 36309251 36359157 36449033 35959002

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 22, 7:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaxter, Boone, Clay, Fulton, Greene, Izard and 7 more91 min
Apr 22, 8:09 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington96 min
Apr 22, 9:39 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarroll, Crawford, Franklin, Madison, Sebastian, Washington66 min
Apr 22, 11:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBaxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Marion and 3 more7 hr
Apr 22, 11:10 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin and 4 more2 hr
Apr 23, 2:33 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Marion, Washington87 min
Apr 23, 5:06 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Marion, Newton and 1 more24 min
Apr 23, 1:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Craighead, Mississippi86 min
Apr 23, 5:09 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaxter, Clay, Fulton, Randolph2 hr
Apr 23, 5:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBaxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Cleburne and 30 more6 hr
Apr 22, 11:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtoka, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche, Cotton and 19 more4 hr
Apr 23, 2:08 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLatimer, LeFlore, Pittsburg, Pushmataha67 min
Apr 23, 12:56 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Carter, Choctaw, Jefferson, Johnston, Love and 2 more64 min
Apr 23, 3:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Cotton and 11 more9 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Arkansas, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 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.