Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2016

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 1

January 8, 201611 parishes in Louisiana; 32 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jan 8, 2016, 3:54 PM CST for 11 parishes in Louisiana; 32 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 8, 2016, 3:54 PM CST (21:54 UTC)
Expired: Jan 8, 2016, 11:00 PM CST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 43 counties

Acadia Parish, LA, Allen Parish, LA, Beauregard Parish, LA, Calcasieu Parish, LA, Cameron Parish, LA, Evangeline Parish, LA, Jefferson Davis Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Vermilion Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Austin County, TX, Brazoria County, TX, Brazos County, TX, Burleson County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Colorado County, TX, Fort Bend County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Harris County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Madison County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Newton County, TX, Orange County, TX, Polk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Shelby County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Walker County, TX, Waller County, TX, Washington County, TX, Wharton County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 130 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:55 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: 20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 2%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 5%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 4:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	53 min
Jan 8, 4:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Beauregard, Calcasieu	44 min
Jan 8, 5:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris	24 min
Jan 8, 5:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk, San Jacinto, Walker	52 min
Jan 8, 5:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, Shelby	52 min
Jan 8, 5:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jefferson	61 min
Jan 8, 6:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Walker	38 min
Jan 8, 6:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Chambers, Liberty	50 min
Jan 8, 7:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Orange	30 min
Jan 8, 7:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jefferson	58 min
Jan 8, 7:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris	35 min
Jan 8, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Acadia, Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis	33 min
Jan 8, 7:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson	23 min
Jan 8, 7:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Acadia, Allen, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis	60 min
Jan 8, 8:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Newton	31 min
Jan 8, 8:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Beauregard, Calcasieu	26 min
Jan 8, 8:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Evangeline	33 min
Jan 8, 8:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Cameron	35 min
Jan 8, 8:45 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Beauregard	30 min
Jan 8, 9:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Rapides, Vernon	28 min
Jan 8, 9:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	26 min
Jan 8, 9:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard, Rapides, Vernon	29 min
Jan 8, 10:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu	30 min
Jan 8, 10:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Cameron	25 min
Jan 8, 10:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Evangeline, Rapides	30 min
Jan 8, 10:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Cameron	23 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 177 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: 491 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 440 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 2:54 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend and 17 more	2 hr
Jan 8, 3:06 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Ellis, Falls, Franklin and 22 more	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2016 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Louisiana, 2016 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2016

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.