Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 101

February 3, 20129 counties in Oklahoma; 12 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Feb 3, 2012, 11:59 AM CST for 9 counties in Oklahoma; 12 counties in Texas. It was in force for 91 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Feb 3, 2012, 11:59 AM CST (17:59 UTC)
Expired
Feb 3, 2012, 1:30 PM CST
In force
91 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 21 counties

Carter County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Love County, OK, Murray County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Archer County, TX, Clay County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Jack County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:00 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

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 146 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2012-02-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 592 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2012-02-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 301 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
592 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
478 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
301 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
343 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
5.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

502 
ACUS11 KWNS 031759
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 031759 
OKZ000-TXZ000-031930-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0101
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1159 AM CST FRI FEB 03 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SWRN OK THROUGH NWRN AND A PORTION OF NCNTRL TX

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY 

VALID 031759Z - 031930Z

STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AND INTENSIFY FROM NWRN TX THROUGH
SWRN OK THIS AFTERNOON. PRIMARY THREATS WILL BE SUPERCELLS AND LINE
SEGMENTS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING ISOLATED TORNADOES...DAMAGING WIND AND
HAIL.

LOW CLOUDS HAVE BEGUN TO MIX OUT FROM NWRN TX THROUGH SWRN OK WITH
TEMPERATURES RISING INTO THE UPPER 60S ALLOWING FOR BOUNDARY LAYER
DESTABILIZATION. VISIBLE IMAGERY HAS SHOWN AN INCREASE IN
PRE-FRONTAL CUMULUS ALONG MOIST AXIS WITH MLCAPE FROM 800-1200 J/KG.
STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP WITHIN THIS ZONE OF DESTABILIZATION
ALONG AND AHEAD OF COLD FRONT SUPPORTED BY A WEAK CAP AND FURTHER
DIABATIC WARMING. ONCE STORMS BECOME SURFACE BASED...EFFECTIVE BULK
SHEAR AOA 40 KT WILL SUPPORT ORGANIZED STORMS INCLUDING SUPERCELLS
AND BOWING SEGMENTS. A 30-40 KT LLJ WILL PERSIST FROM N TX THROUGH
CNTRL OK THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL MAINTAIN 0-2 KM HODOGRAPHS
SUFFICIENT FOR LOW LEVEL MESOCYCLONES AND POSSIBLE ISOLATED
TORNADOES.

..DIAL.. 02/03/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...FWD...OUN...SJT...

LAT...LON   35059784 34629707 33839697 32679809 32499944 33909912
            34839872 35059784

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 2, 7:08 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer and 13 more67 min
Feb 2, 7:38 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 16 more7 hr
Feb 2, 9:48 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Custer, Dewey and 11 more117 min
Feb 2, 11:44 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Comanche, Custer and 14 more91 min
Feb 3, 2:00 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland and 24 more60 min
Feb 3, 2:25 AM CSTTornado WatchSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 16 more8 hr
Feb 3, 7:15 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton, Custer and 8 more90 min
Feb 3, 9:42 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson and 3 more63 min
Feb 3, 12:26 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin and 8 more8 hr
Feb 3, 3:17 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Garvin, Jefferson, Johnston, Love, Marshall and 1 more88 min
Feb 3, 5:41 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Hughes and 8 more2 hr
Feb 3, 6:35 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCJasper, Newton, Sabine, Tyler115 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.