Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2011

Tornado Watch 148

April 16, 201111 counties in Alabama; 17 counties in Florida; 26 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 16, 2011, 2:05 AM CDT for 11 counties in Alabama; 17 counties in Florida; 26 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 16, 2011, 2:05 AM CDT (07:05 UTC)
Expired: Apr 16, 2011, 9:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 54 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Covington County, AL, Dale County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lee County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Jefferson County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Madison County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Taylor County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Baker County, GA, Ben Hill County, GA, Berrien County, GA, Brooks County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Clay County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Cook County, GA, Decatur County, GA, Dougherty County, GA, Early County, GA, Grady County, GA, Irwin County, GA, Lanier County, GA, Lee County, GA, Lowndes County, GA, Miller County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Thomas County, GA, Tift County, GA, Turner County, GA, Worth County, GA

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: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 16, 2:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee, Russell	19 min
Apr 16, 2:12 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Dale, Henry	33 min
Apr 16, 3:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Gadsden, Leon	46 min
Apr 16, 4:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Leon	38 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

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 00:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 127 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 78 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

529 
WWUS20 KWNS 160709
SEL8
SPC WW 160709
ALZ000-FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-161400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 148
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
305 AM EDT SAT APR 16 2011

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

       SOUTHEAST ALABAMA
       THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE
       SOUTHWEST GEORGIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY MORNING FROM 305 AM UNTIL 1000 AM EDT.

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 105 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES NORTH OF ALBANY
GEORGIA TO 50 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PANAMA CITY FLORIDA.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 146. WATCH NUMBER 146 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER
305 AM EDT. CONTINUE...WW 147...

DISCUSSION...PRE-FRONTAL TSTMS...INCLUDING A FEW SUSTAINED
STORMS/SUPERCELLS...EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING ENE ACROSS SE AL AND
WRN PORTIONS OF THE FL PANHANDLE THROUGH LATER THIS MORNING.  OTHER
STORMS/POSSIBLE SUPERCELLS MAY FORM ALONG ERN EDGE OF LOW-LVL
MOISTURE AXIS ACROSS THE MIDDLE PART OF THE FL PANHANDLE INTO SW GA.
WIND PROFILES FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS WITH LOW-LVL ROTATION ARE
ALREADY IN PLACE /PER AREA VWP DATA/...AND WIND FIELD MAY SOMEWHAT
STRENGTHEN AS JET STREAK IN BASE OF LARGE SCALE MID MS VLY TROUGH
CONTINUES E ACROSS THE GULF CST STATES LATER THIS MORNING.  COUPLED
WITH APPRECIABLE MOISTURE INFLOW OFF THE NERN GULF...SETUP MAY YIELD
TORNADOES IN ADDITION TO LOCALLY DMGG WIND/MARGINALLY SVR HAIL.

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
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 7:16 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Butler and 46 more	59 min
Apr 15, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler and 34 more	6 hr
Apr 15, 10:41 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers and 28 more	94 min
Apr 16, 1:43 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston	92 min
Apr 16, 6:57 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Nassau and 3 more	63 min
Apr 15, 7:52 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Clarke and 40 more	53 min
Apr 15, 8:12 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts and 69 more	9 hr
Apr 16, 4:09 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clarke, Columbia, Elbert, Franklin, Glascock, Greene and 12 more	96 min
Apr 16, 4:57 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Bulloch, Burke, Butts and 56 more	8 hr
Apr 16, 9:39 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Effingham and 12 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2011 Tornado Watches in Florida, 2011 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2011 Every 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.