Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2014
Tornado Watch 542
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 13, 2014, 7:23 PM CDT for 12 counties in Alabama; Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Florida. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 13, 2014, 7:23 PM CDT (00:23 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 14, 2014, 1:55 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Baldwin County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Escambia County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:22 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
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13, 7:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 33 min |
| Oct 13, 8:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Choctaw, Washington | 32 min |
| Oct 13, 9:43 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | MOB | Clarke, Monroe | 6 hr |
| Oct 14, 12:05 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Okaloosa, Santa Rosa | 20 min |
| Oct 14, 12:30 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Okaloosa, Santa Rosa | 45 min |
| Oct 14, 12:43 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Okaloosa | 62 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 211 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
- 880 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -16 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 710 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 338 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 406 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 13.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13, 7:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Cullman, Fayette, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale and 9 more | 57 min |
| Oct 13, 8:57 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Clay and 11 more | 2 hr |
| Oct 13, 10:44 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Coosa, Dale and 10 more | 6 hr |
| Oct 13, 11:52 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Butler, Coffee, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw and 5 more | 53 min |
| Oct 14, 2:07 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Chambers, Dale, Henry, Houston, Lee and 2 more | 83 min |
| Oct 14, 3:27 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Houston | 8 hr |
| Oct 14, 6:23 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Jackson | 2 hr |
| Oct 14, 7:35 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Jefferson and 5 more | 85 min |
| Oct 14, 10:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson and 8 more | 114 min |
| Oct 14, 10:43 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 16 more | 7 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2014Tornado Watches in Florida, 2014Every tornado watch in 2014
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.