Alert archive / Alabama / Mesoscale Discussions in 2015

Mesoscale Discussion 18

January 3, 201514 counties in Alabama; 6 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jan 3, 2015, 7:54 PM CST for 14 counties in Alabama; 6 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 66 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 3, 2015, 7:54 PM CST (01:54 UTC)
Expired: Jan 3, 2015, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch: 5%

Counties Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clay County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Coosa County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Randolph County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Chattooga County, GA, Dade County, GA, Floyd County, GA, Haralson County, GA, Polk County, GA, Walker County, GA

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:58 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -43 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 598 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 197 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 3, 8:57 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bullock, Butler, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Elmore, Escambia and 5 more	63 min
Jan 4, 1:19 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Covington, Escambia	86 min
Jan 4, 7:48 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Colquitt and 24 more	87 min
Jan 4, 9:28 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 44 more	92 min
Jan 4, 10:37 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 40 more	5 hr
Jan 4, 12:39 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch, Charlton and 16 more	96 min
Jan 4, 2:57 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Camden	63 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2015 Mesoscale Discussions in Georgia, 2015 Every mesoscale discussion in 2015

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.