Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2015
Tornado Watch 566
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 23, 2015, 8:20 PM CST for 13 counties in Alabama; 13 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 23, 2015, 8:20 PM CST (02:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 24, 2015, 4:00 AM CST
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 26 counties
Bibb County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Marion County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Clarke County, MS, Clay County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Scott County, MS, Smith County, MS, Winston County, MS
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:23 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
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 23, 9:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Lowndes, Noxubee | 30 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, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 143 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
- 309 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -104 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 738 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 67 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 328 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 466 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 6.6
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 23, 6:35 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 1 more | 55 min |
| Dec 23, 7:41 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar and 8 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 23, 10:11 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah and 12 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 23, 10:33 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cullman, DeKalb, Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and 2 more | 5 hr |
| Dec 24, 3:10 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Coffee and 19 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 24, 3:27 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton and 16 more | 93 min |
| Dec 24, 4:09 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry and 5 more | 7 hr |
| Dec 24, 7:07 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Bullock, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Henry and 2 more | 83 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2015Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2015Every tornado watch 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.