Alert archive / Alabama / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 226

March 2, 201231 counties in Alabama; 19 counties in Georgia; 13 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 2, 2012, 10:07 PM CST for 31 counties in Alabama; 19 counties in Georgia; 13 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 113 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 2, 2012, 10:07 PM CST (04:07 UTC)
Expired: Mar 3, 2012, 12:00 AM CST
In force: 113 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 63 counties

Autauga County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Chambers County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lee County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Perry County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Carroll County, GA, Clayton County, GA, Cobb County, GA, Coweta County, GA, DeKalb County, GA, Douglas County, GA, Fayette County, GA, Floyd County, GA, Fulton County, GA, Haralson County, GA, Harris County, GA, Heard County, GA, Henry County, GA, Meriwether County, GA, Paulding County, GA, Pike County, GA, Polk County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Troup County, GA, Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Greene County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Newton County, MS, Perry County, MS, Smith County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:08 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.

Tornado Watch 66Mar 2, 10:55 PM CST

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 51 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: 754 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1391 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 67 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 315 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 7.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 2, 7:18 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Cullman, DeKalb, Fayette, Greene, Jackson and 12 more	57 min
Mar 2, 10:56 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler and 31 more	6 hr
Mar 3, 4:47 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Coffee, Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston	58 min
Mar 3, 6:35 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Geneva, Houston	6 hr
Mar 2, 7:15 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Catoosa, Dade, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Rabun and 4 more	90 min
Mar 2, 8:36 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Dougherty and 6 more	54 min
Mar 2, 9:54 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Catoosa and 61 more	6 hr
Mar 2, 11:40 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clarke and 30 more	95 min
Mar 3, 2:58 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Burke, Columbia, Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln and 6 more	92 min
Mar 3, 3:39 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond	4 hr
Mar 3, 9:12 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks and 24 more	93 min
Mar 3, 11:45 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brantley, Brooks, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Echols and 3 more	60 min
Mar 3, 12:04 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Atkinson, Brantley, Brooks, Camden, Charlton, Clinch and 12 more	5 hr
Mar 3, 3:30 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Charlton	90 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2012 Mesoscale Discussions in Georgia, 2012 Mesoscale Discussions in Mississippi, 2012 Every 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.