Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2013

Tornado Watch 164

May 16, 201317 parishes in Louisiana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2013, 2:54 PM CDT for 17 parishes in Louisiana. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2013, 2:54 PM CDT (19:54 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2013, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Bienville Parish, LA, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:55 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
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 2:57 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVBossier, Caddo, De Soto33 min
May 16, 3:27 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVBienville, Bossier, Caddo, De Soto, Red River48 min
May 16, 4:08 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVBienville, Natchitoches, Red River22 min
May 16, 4:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVNatchitoches, Red River, Winn61 min
May 16, 4:47 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVNatchitoches, Winn28 min
May 16, 5:14 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVNatchitoches, Winn46 min
May 16, 7:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVClaiborne, Union64 min
May 16, 7:49 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVUnion56 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

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 58 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2013-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 186 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2013-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 105 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
186 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-239 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
717 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
406 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 12:07 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, De Soto, Jackson and 6 more83 min
May 16, 5:38 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAvoyelles, Bienville, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant and 5 more97 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2013Every tornado watch in 2013

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.