Alert archive / Mississippi / Mesoscale Discussions in 2015

Mesoscale Discussion 9

January 3, 201520 parishes in Louisiana; 32 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jan 3, 2015, 10:24 AM CST for 20 parishes in Louisiana; 32 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 3, 2015, 10:24 AM CST (16:24 UTC)
Expired
Jan 3, 2015, 12:30 PM CST
In force
2 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
80%
All 52 counties

Ascension Parish, LA, Assumption Parish, LA, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, East Feliciana Parish, LA, Iberville Parish, LA, Lafourche Parish, LA, Livingston Parish, LA, Orleans Parish, LA, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA, Saint Charles Parish, LA, Saint Helena Parish, LA, Saint James Parish, LA, Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA, Saint Martin Parish, LA, Saint Tammany Parish, LA, St. Mary Parish, LA, Tangipahoa Parish, LA, Washington Parish, LA, West Baton Rouge Parish, LA, West Feliciana Parish, LA, Amite County, MS, Clarke County, MS, Copiah County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Franklin County, MS, Hancock County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jefferson County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lawrence County, MS, Leake County, MS, Lincoln County, MS, Marion County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Pike County, MS, Rankin County, MS, Scott County, MS, Simpson County, MS, Smith County, MS, Stone County, MS, Walthall County, MS, Wayne County, MS, Wilkinson County, MS, Winston County, MS

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:26 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 99 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2015-01-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 92 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2015-01-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 353 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
92 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
353 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
556 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

823 
ACUS11 KWNS 031624
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 031624 
ALZ000-MSZ000-LAZ000-031830-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0009
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1024 AM CST SAT JAN 03 2015

AREAS AFFECTED...CNTRL/SRN MS...ERN LA

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...TORNADO WATCH LIKELY 

VALID 031624Z - 031830Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...80 PERCENT

SUMMARY...PRE-FRONTAL TSTM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED BY EARLY
AFTERNOON WITHIN AN ENVIRONMENT SUFFICIENT FOR ROTATING UPDRAFTS
WITH PRIMARY RISKS OF A COUPLE TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WINDS.

DISCUSSION...COMPOSITE CONVECTIVE OUTFLOW/COLD FRONT EXTENDED FROM
10 W UOX TO 20 W JAN TO 30 W HEZ TO 30 NW LFT AS OF 16Z. FROM THE
JAN AREA SWD TO THE GULF COAST AHEAD OF THIS BOUNDARY...A
DESTABILIZING AIR MASS CHARACTERIZED BY 65-70 DEG F SURFACE DEW
POINTS WAS PREVALENT. VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SUGGEST THAT WARM
SECTOR TCU/CBS HAVE INITIATED OFFSHORE S OF ATCHAFALAYA BAY. RECENT
HRRR RUNS AND CONVECTION-ALLOWING WRF GUIDANCE ARE CONSISTENT IN
SIMULATING STRENGTHENING OFFSHORE CONVECTION AS IT SPREADS INLAND
ACROSS PARTS OF THE LOWER MS VALLEY INTO THE AFTERNOON. THE HRRR
APPEARS A BIT MORE AGGRESSIVE IN TIMING/AMPLITUDE OF THIS WARM
CONVEYOR ACTIVITY. 

DESPITE MOIST-ADIABATIC LAPSE RATES SAMPLED IN 12Z LCH/JAN
RAOBS...SLIGHT SURFACE HEATING IN THE 72-74 DEG F RANGE ACROSS ERN
LA IS ALREADY ADEQUATE FOR MLCAPE AROUND 750 J/KG. VEERED LOW-LEVEL
WINDS /STRONGER WITH NRN EXTENT/ SUGGEST HODOGRAPHS WILL NOT BE
OVERLY LARGE...BUT CERTAINLY SUFFICIENT FOR ROTATING UPDRAFTS
CAPABLE OF A COUPLE TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE MOST FAVORABLE
ENVIRONMENTAL CORRIDOR FOR TORNADOES SHOULD EVOLVE ACROSS ERN LA
INTO SRN MS BETWEEN ABOUT 19-22Z.

..GRAMS/HART.. 01/03/2015

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...BMX...MOB...JAN...LIX...LCH...

LAT...LON   33068974 33108883 32878838 32498830 31928840 31188867
            30228942 29469041 29399110 29679179 30209183 30829156
            31689112 32459015 33068974

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 3, 11:04 AM CSTTornado WatchSPCAscension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville and 22 more7 hr
Jan 3, 12:00 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCSaint Bernard90 min
Jan 3, 1:43 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCEast Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Livingston, Saint Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington92 min
Jan 3, 5:31 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLivingston, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington44 min
Jan 3, 2:54 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChoctaw, Clarke, Clay, Covington, Jasper, Jefferson Davis and 16 more96 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Mississippi, 2015Mesoscale Discussions in Louisiana, 2015Every 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.