Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2013

Tornado Watch 585

December 21, 201322 counties in Mississippi; 32 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 21, 2013, 5:46 PM CST for 22 counties in Mississippi; 32 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 21, 2013, 5:46 PM CST (23:46 UTC)
Expired: Dec 22, 2013, 12:00 AM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 0.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 54 counties

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, Benton County, TN, Carroll County, TN, Cheatham County, TN, Chester County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Davidson County, TN, Decatur County, TN, Dickson County, TN, Fayette County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henderson County, TN, Henry County, TN, Hickman County, TN, Houston County, TN, Humphreys County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN, Madison County, TN, Maury County, TN, McNairy County, TN, Montgomery County, TN, Perry County, TN, Robertson County, TN, Shelby County, TN, Stewart County, TN, Tipton County, TN, Wayne County, TN, Weakley County, TN, Williamson County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:48 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 80%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
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: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 21, 5:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Coahoma, DeSoto, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tate and 1 more	40 min
Dec 21, 5:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	DeSoto, Tate, Tunica	38 min
Dec 21, 5:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Panola, Quitman, Tate, Tunica	35 min
Dec 21, 6:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette, Shelby, Tipton	44 min
Dec 21, 6:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Lafayette, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha	45 min
Dec 21, 6:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crockett, Haywood, Lauderdale, Tipton	44 min
Dec 21, 6:17 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	DeSoto, Marshall, Tate	28 min
Dec 21, 6:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Benton, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Tate	38 min
Dec 21, 6:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette, Hardeman, Haywood	47 min
Dec 21, 6:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Benton, Marshall, Tippah	40 min
Dec 21, 6:37 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lafayette, Panola, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha	38 min
Dec 21, 6:43 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Haywood	32 min
Dec 21, 6:51 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crockett, Haywood, Madison	24 min
Dec 21, 6:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester, Hardeman, Henderson, McNairy, Madison	49 min
Dec 21, 6:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Pontotoc and 3 more	46 min
Dec 21, 7:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Alcorn, Benton, Tippah	30 min
Dec 21, 7:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Carroll, Gibson, Henderson, Madison	43 min
Dec 21, 7:09 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman and 7 more	5 hr
Dec 21, 7:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Alcorn, Benton, Marshall, Prentiss, Tippah	49 min
Dec 21, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Gibson, Weakley	48 min
Dec 21, 7:14 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Coahoma, DeSoto, Tate, Tunica	3 hr
Dec 21, 7:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Carroll, Henry, Weakley	43 min
Dec 21, 7:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Henry	41 min
Dec 21, 7:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Decatur, Hardin, Henderson	45 min
Dec 21, 7:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Benton, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Stewart	24 min
Dec 21, 7:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss and 2 more	52 min
Dec 21, 7:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester, Hardin, McNairy	27 min
Dec 21, 7:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Benton, Humphreys, Perry	22 min
Dec 21, 7:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Alcorn, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo	51 min
Dec 21, 7:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Benton, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Stewart	34 min
Dec 21, 8:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Benton, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Stewart	30 min
Dec 21, 8:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tishomingo	53 min
Dec 21, 8:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Dickson, Hickman, Humphreys, Lewis, Perry, Wayne	36 min
Dec 21, 8:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Decatur, Hardin	49 min
Dec 21, 8:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Wayne	42 min
Dec 21, 8:21 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Montgomery, Robertson	39 min
Dec 21, 8:24 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Dickson, Humphreys, Montgomery	36 min
Dec 21, 8:34 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Alcorn, Lee, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo and 1 more	3 hr
Dec 21, 8:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury and 3 more	36 min
Dec 21, 8:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Lee, Prentiss, Tishomingo	50 min
Dec 21, 8:42 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Dickson, Hickman, Williamson	33 min
Dec 21, 8:51 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Sumner, Williamson	24 min
Dec 21, 8:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Robertson, Sumner	37 min
Dec 21, 9:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Davidson, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury, Wayne and 1 more	40 min
Dec 21, 9:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Davidson, Sumner, Wilson	32 min
Dec 21, 9:22 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Dyer, Gibson, Lake, Lauderdale, Obion, Tipton and 1 more	53 min
Dec 21, 9:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Bedford, Davidson, Giles, Lawrence, Marshall, Maury and 3 more	38 min
Dec 21, 9:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Davidson, Sumner, Trousdale, Wilson	22 min
Dec 21, 10:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Bedford, Cannon, DeKalb, Giles, Lawrence, Marshall and 3 more	36 min
Dec 21, 10:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Bedford, Marshall, Maury, Rutherford, Williamson	33 min
Dec 21, 10:15 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Gibson, Obion, Weakley	105 min
Dec 21, 10:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Bedford, Cannon, DeKalb, Giles, Lawrence, Marshall and 2 more	48 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 (KBYH), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 128 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 158 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -96 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 461 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 518 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 610 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 21, 10:45 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Bolivar, Coahoma, DeSoto, Lafayette, Leflore and 8 more	60 min
Dec 21, 12:01 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alcorn, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Coahoma and 23 more	8 hr
Dec 21, 12:30 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Washington	60 min
Dec 21, 2:50 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Bolivar, Coahoma, DeSoto, Grenada, Lafayette and 9 more	55 min
Dec 21, 5:06 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar and 47 more	84 min
Dec 21, 5:22 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Choctaw and 40 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2013 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2013 Every 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.