Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2012
Tornado Watch 50
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 29, 2012, 1:48 PM CST for 21 counties in Alabama; 22 counties in Mississippi; Franklin County, Lincoln County, Moore County, Tennessee. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 29, 2012, 1:48 PM CST (19:48 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 29, 2012, 9:00 PM CST
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 46 counties
Blount County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Panola County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Union County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Franklin County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Moore County, TN
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:47 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 40%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 40%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 29, 4:05 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Chickasaw, Monroe | 42 min |
| Feb 29, 4:29 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar, Marion | 46 min |
| Feb 29, 4:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Monroe | 13 min |
| Feb 29, 4:57 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette, Marion, Walker | 14 min |
| Feb 29, 5:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette, Walker | 44 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
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 111 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1168 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 535 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 289 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 292 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.3
- Supercell composite
- 8.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
536
WWUS20 KWNS 291949
SEL0
SPC WW 291949
ALZ000-MSZ000-TNZ000-010300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 50
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
150 PM CST WED FEB 29 2012
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN ALABAMA
NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI
SOUTHERN-MIDDLE TENNESSEE
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 150 PM UNTIL
900 PM CST.
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 55 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTH OF GREENVILLE
MISSISSIPPI TO 70 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF HUNTSVILLE ALABAMA.
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).
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...CONTINUE...WW 48...WW 49...
DISCUSSION...TSTMS GRADUALLY DEVELOPING AHEAD OF COLD FRONT ACROSS
NRN MS ARE EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY THIS AFTERNOON AS THEY INTERACT
WITH A MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT.
ADDITIONAL STORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE ALONG THE COLD FRONT AS IT
ADVANCES EWD ACROSS THE MS RIVER. SUPERCELLS AND BOWING STRUCTURES
WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH AN ATTENDANT THREAT FOR A FEW
TORNADOES...DAMAGING WINDS AND SEVERE 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
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25040.
...MEADSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 29, 11:46 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion | 89 min |
| Feb 28, 10:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Conway, Crawford and 20 more | 6 hr |
| Feb 28, 11:40 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton | 95 min |
| Feb 29, 12:49 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arkansas, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clay, Cleburne and 31 more | 56 min |
| Feb 29, 3:20 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Fulton and 20 more | 9 hr |
| Feb 29, 3:53 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baxter, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Faulkner and 20 more | 97 min |
| Feb 29, 8:07 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Jackson, Lawrence and 2 more | 53 min |
| Feb 29, 11:11 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Crittenden, Mississippi | 2 hr |
| Feb 29, 2:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Ashley, Chicot | 6 hr |
| Feb 29, 3:34 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alcorn, Benton, Marshall | 116 min |
| Feb 29, 2:40 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Houston and 11 more | 65 min |
| Feb 29, 4:39 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Benton, Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, Dickson, Fentress and 14 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 29, 7:38 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, DeKalb, Dickson and 15 more | 67 min |
| Feb 29, 11:31 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Anderson, Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Campbell, Cannon and 68 more | 8 hr |
| Feb 29, 2:23 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Johnson | 67 min |
| Feb 29, 4:36 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Bradley, Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamilton and 6 more | 54 min |
| Feb 29, 5:37 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Blount, Bradley, Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamilton and 10 more | 3 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2012Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2012Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2012Every tornado watch 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.