Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2011

Tornado Watch 127

April 11, 20117 counties in Arkansas; McCurtain County, Oklahoma; 20 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 11, 2011, 1:49 AM CDT for 7 counties in Arkansas; McCurtain County, Oklahoma; 20 counties in Texas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 11, 2011, 1:49 AM CDT (06:49 UTC)
Expired
Apr 11, 2011, 6:00 AM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 28 counties

Hempstead County, AR, Howard County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Little River County, AR, Miller County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Sevier County, AR, McCurtain County, OK, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Delta County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Lamar County, TX, Marion County, TX, Morris County, TX, Rains County, TX, Red River County, TX, Smith County, TX, Titus County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Van Zandt County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:46 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 11, 1:53 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHenderson, Kaufman52 min
Apr 11, 2:01 AM CDTTornado WarningFWDDallas, Kaufman30 min
Apr 11, 2:13 AM CDTTornado WarningFWDHunt, Kaufman, Rockwall35 min
Apr 11, 2:19 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDRains, Van Zandt56 min
Apr 11, 2:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDelta, Hopkins, Hunt52 min
Apr 11, 2:59 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVFranklin, Wood31 min
Apr 11, 3:20 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCamp, Franklin, Morris, Red River, Titus, Upshur and 1 more40 min
Apr 11, 3:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVMcCurtain40 min
Apr 11, 4:00 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVLittle River, Miller45 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

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 00:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 143 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, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2011-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 433 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, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2011-04-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 81 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
433 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-317 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1903 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

342 
WWUS20 KWNS 110647
SEL7
SPC WW 110647
ARZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-111100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 127
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
150 AM CDT MON APR 11 2011

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

       SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS
       EXTREME SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
       NORTHEAST TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY MORNING FROM 150 AM UNTIL 600 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 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 70 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF
TYLER TEXAS TO 35 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF DE QUEEN ARKANSAS.  FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).

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 123...WW 124...WW 126...

DISCUSSION...CLUSTERS OF INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS...INCLUDING BOW
ECHOES...ARE TRACK NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS NORTHEAST TX.  THESE STORMS
WILL PROGRESS ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS.
 DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE GREATEST THREAT.  HOWEVER...STRONG LOW LEVEL
VERTICAL SHEAR AND BOW/LEWP STRUCTURES WILL POSE A THREAT FOR
ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...HART

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 10, 7:28 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBaxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin and 7 more8 hr
Apr 10, 8:52 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Washington53 min
Apr 11, 2:04 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Conway, Crawford and 17 more56 min
Apr 11, 4:19 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCalhoun, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway and 28 more56 min
Apr 11, 9:46 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Cleveland and 10 more29 min
Apr 11, 10:31 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCArkansas, Bradley, Cleveland, Crittenden, Desha, Drew and 6 more6 hr
Apr 11, 12:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Bradley, Cleveland, Crittenden, Desha, Drew and 6 more53 min
Apr 10, 7:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBosque, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Collin, Comanche and 41 more8 hr
Apr 10, 9:09 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Concho, Cooke and 21 more66 min
Apr 10, 11:39 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAnderson, Bandera, Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Burnet and 28 more7 hr
Apr 11, 1:27 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Brown, Burnet and 36 more93 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2011Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2011Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2011Every tornado watch 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.