Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2013

Tornado Watch 4

January 12, 20134 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 12, 2013, 11:29 PM CST for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 12, 2013, 11:29 PM CST (05:29 UTC)
Expired
Jan 13, 2013, 4:50 AM CST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 61 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lee County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Phillips County, AR, Union County, AR, Bienville Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Catahoula Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Franklin Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Tensas Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Benton County, MS, Bolivar County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Issaquena County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Panola County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Sharkey County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Washington County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Angelina County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, Shelby County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 147 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:30 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
5%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 12, 11:36 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVAngelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Shelby54 min
Jan 12, 11:50 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVUnion55 min
Jan 12, 11:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVBienville, Bossier, Claiborne, Lincoln, Red River, Webster64 min
Jan 13, 12:09 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVDe Soto46 min
Jan 13, 12:15 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVBienville, Bossier, Caddo, De Soto, Red River, Webster60 min
Jan 13, 12:22 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVColumbia, Union26 min
Jan 13, 12:33 AM CSTFlash Flood WarningLZKArkansas, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Lonoke, Monroe and 4 more3 hr
Jan 13, 12:43 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVUnion62 min
Jan 13, 12:52 AM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGCrittenden, Cross, Lee, Poinsett, St. Francis2 hr
Jan 13, 1:26 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANAshley49 min
Jan 13, 1:55 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLZKArkansas, Desha, Drew, Lincoln35 min
Jan 13, 2:49 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANBolivar, Washington45 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 00:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 138 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 00:00Z on 2013-01-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1010 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 00:00Z on 2013-01-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 340 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1010 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
620 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
340 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
398 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
9.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

671 
WWUS20 KWNS 130531
SEL4
SPC WW 130531
ARZ000-LAZ000-MSZ000-TXZ000-131200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 4
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1130 PM CST SAT JAN 12 2013

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

       SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ARKANSAS
       NORTHERN LOUISIANA
       NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI
       SMALL PART OF EAST TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 1130 PM
UNTIL 600 AM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 75 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 70 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF
NATCHITOCHES LOUISIANA TO 40 MILES NORTHWEST OF OXFORD
MISSISSIPPI.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).

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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 3. WATCH NUMBER 3 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 1130
PM CST.

DISCUSSION...BAND OF NEAR-FRONTAL CONVECTION BECOMING BETTER
ORGANIZED ACROSS THIS REGION...WHILE IMPINGING UPON WARM-SECTOR
CAPE-SHEAR PARAMETER SPACE THAT WILL REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR SVR
THROUGH MOST OF PRE-DAWN HOURS.  REF MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 21 FOR
MORE INITIAL DETAILS.  DAMAGING GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE...AND A TORNADO
THREAT DOES EXIST WITH ANY QLCS MESOVORTICES OR EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23040.


...EDWARDS

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 12, 6:18 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Clay, Cleburne and 48 more117 min
Jan 12, 9:25 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Clay, Cleveland and 31 more2 hr
Jan 12, 10:33 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAshley, Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Drew, Ouachita and 1 more87 min
Jan 13, 1:18 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAshley, Chicot, Desha, Drew87 min
Jan 13, 3:53 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Desha, Drew and 5 more97 min
Jan 13, 2:30 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAscension, Assumption, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Saint Charles and 5 more90 min
Jan 13, 2:46 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCKemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Monroe, Neshoba, Newton and 1 more119 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2013Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2013Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 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.