Alert archive / Mississippi / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 321

March 21, 2012Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana; 23 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 21, 2012, 5:40 PM CDT for Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana; 23 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 35 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 21, 2012, 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired
Mar 21, 2012, 6:15 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 26 counties

Orleans Parish, LA, Plaquemines Parish, LA, Saint Bernard Parish, LA, Clarke County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Hancock County, MS, Harrison County, MS, Jackson County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Leake County, MS, Marion County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Scott County, MS, Smith County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:39 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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 67 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-03-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 983 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-03-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 363 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
983 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
519 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
363 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
421 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.7
Supercell composite
10.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

142 
ACUS11 KWNS 212240
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 212240 
ALZ000-MSZ000-LAZ000-212315-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0321
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0540 PM CDT WED MAR 21 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...PARTS OF CENTRAL/SRN MS AND FAR SERN LA

CONCERNING...TORNADO WATCH 97...

VALID 212240Z - 212315Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR TORNADO WATCH 97 CONTINUES.

A NEW TORNADO WATCH WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED INTO THE EVENING FOR PARTS
OF CENTRAL/SRN MS AND FAR SERN LA.  

AT 2225Z...REGIONAL RADAR IMAGERY SHOWED AN AREA OF TSTMS /WITH
STRONGER REFLECTIVITY/ OVER SERN TO EAST CENTRAL MS...AND A SECOND
AREA OF TSTMS EXTENDING FROM SW-NW OF NEW ORLEANS INTO SWRN/CENTRAL
MS.  THE FORMER BAND OF TSTMS IS LOCATED WITHIN A ZONE OF LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE EXTENDING FROM S-N...WITH MESO-ANALYSIS SUGGESTING AN
AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MS/ADJACENT SERN LA /JUST SW
OF THE RECENT TORNADO WARNING ISSUED BY WFO JAN/.  SELY LOW LEVEL
WINDS /PER WSR-88D VADS AND ONE WIND PROFILER IN THE GULF COAST
STATES/ COMBINED WITH SSWLY 50+ KT MIDLEVEL WINDS IS MAINTAINING
EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR OF 30-40 KT.  THIS COMBINED WITH SFC-1 KM SHEAR
OF 25-35 KT REMAIN SUFFICIENT FOR ORGANIZED STORMS WITH A TORNADO
THREAT.  

MOST MODEL DATA SUGGESTS THERE COULD BE A TEMPORARY LULL IN THE
NUMBER OF STRONGER TSTMS.  HOWEVER...GIVEN THE FAVORABLE KINEMATICS
AND MODELS INDICATING AN INCREASE IN VERTICAL MOTION OVER THIS
REGION THIS EVENING...A NEW TORNADO WATCH ISSUANCE IS LIKELY.

..PETERS.. 03/21/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...BMX...MOB...JAN...LIX...

LAT...LON   29729003 31088985 32488977 32938971 32958822 31288839
            30208840 29508893 29038915 29108954 29729003

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 20, 8:02 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBeauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Vernon4 hr
Mar 20, 10:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Natchitoches, Vernon67 min
Mar 20, 10:59 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAcadia, Allen, Beauregard, Bienville, Calcasieu, Caldwell and 17 more7 hr
Mar 21, 2:17 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAcadia, Avoyelles, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, Evangeline and 17 more118 min
Mar 21, 4:38 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAscension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, East Baton Rouge and 19 more97 min
Mar 21, 5:04 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAcadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Caldwell, Catahoula and 33 more7 hr
Mar 21, 7:48 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAscension, Assumption, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville and 10 more87 min
Mar 21, 9:25 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAscension, Concordia, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Franklin and 17 more95 min
Mar 21, 10:07 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAscension, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Franklin, Jefferson, Lafourche and 17 more8 hr
Mar 21, 12:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCJefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, Saint Bernard, Saint Tammany and 1 more86 min
Mar 21, 3:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCSaint Bernard88 min
Mar 21, 6:02 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCPlaquemines, Saint Bernard9 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Mississippi, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Louisiana, 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.