Alert archive / Michigan / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 250

March 12, 2012LaGrange County, Steuben County, Indiana; 24 counties in Michigan; Fulton County, Williams County, Ohio

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 12, 2012, 6:29 PM EDT for LaGrange County, Steuben County, Indiana; 24 counties in Michigan; Fulton County, Williams County, Ohio. It was in force for 91 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 12, 2012, 6:29 PM EDT (22:29 UTC)
Expired
Mar 12, 2012, 8:00 PM EDT
In force
91 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 28 counties

LaGrange County, IN, Steuben County, IN, Arenac County, MI, Bay County, MI, Branch County, MI, Calhoun County, MI, Clinton County, MI, Eaton County, MI, Genesee County, MI, Gladwin County, MI, Gratiot County, MI, Hillsdale County, MI, Huron County, MI, Ingham County, MI, Jackson County, MI, Lapeer County, MI, Lenawee County, MI, Livingston County, MI, Midland County, MI, Oakland County, MI, Saginaw County, MI, Saint Joseph County, MI, Sanilac County, MI, Shiawassee County, MI, Tuscola County, MI, Washtenaw County, MI, Fulton County, OH, Williams County, OH

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:30 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

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 68 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, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2012-03-12Temperature 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, Detroit, MI at 12:00Z on 2012-03-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 124 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1981 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 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.

449 
ACUS11 KWNS 122230
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 122229
MIZ000-OHZ000-INZ000-130000-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0250
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0529 PM CDT MON MAR 12 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...LOWER MICHIGAN

CONCERNING...TORNADO WATCH 73...

VALID 122229Z - 130000Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR TORNADO WATCH 73 CONTINUES.

AN ADDITIONAL WW MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF SOUTHEASTERN
LOWER MICHIGAN WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO.

MOST SIGNIFICANT DISCRETE STORM DEVELOPMENT...INCLUDING SUPERCELLS
...NOW APPEARS UNDERWAY ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHWESTERN LOWER MICHIGAN.
 THIS IS OCCURRING WITHIN AN AREA OF ENHANCED LOW-LEVEL WARM
ADVECTION...WHERE THE AXIS OF STRONGEST PRE-FRONTAL SURFACE HEATING
NOSES INTO THE AXIS OF BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE RETURN /WITH SURFACE
DEW POINTS RISING THROUGH THE LOWER/MID 50S.  ONE OR TWO ADDITIONAL
SUPERCELLS COULD FORM IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS FORCING...AND RAPIDLY
SPREAD ACROSS CENTRAL INTO SOUTHEASTERN LOWER MICHIGAN DURING THE
NEXT FEW HOURS...WITHIN 45-50+ KT SOUTHWESTERLY DEEP LAYER MEAN
FLOW.  RUC GUIDANCE SUGGESTS THAT THE 850 MB JET WILL CONTINUE TO
INTENSIFY IN EXCESS OF 50 KT THROUGH EARLY EVENING...CONTRIBUTING TO
FURTHER ENLARGEMENT OF ALREADY SIZABLE CLOCKWISE-CURVED LOW-LEVEL
HODOGRAPHS.  AND IT APPEARS THAT TORNADIC POTENTIAL COULD PEAK
ACROSS THE LANSING...JACKSON AND FLINT AREAS BETWEEN NOW AND 00-01Z.

..KERR.. 03/12/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...DTX...APX...IWX...GRR...

LAT...LON   43968465 44408383 44148287 43258252 41968354 41558413
            41438509 41578583 42448524 43968465

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 12, 12:03 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLake, LaPorte, Porter, Saint Joseph57 min
Mar 12, 4:22 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCDeKalb, Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, LaPorte, Marshall and 4 more7 hr
Mar 12, 7:36 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCGenesee, Huron, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb and 7 more7 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Michigan, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Indiana, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Ohio, 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.