Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2016

Tornado Watch 38

March 8, 20169 counties in Arkansas; 21 parishes in Louisiana; 40 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 8, 2016, 12:41 PM CST for 9 counties in Arkansas; 21 parishes in Louisiana; 40 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 8, 2016, 12:41 PM CST (18:41 UTC)
Expired
Mar 8, 2016, 6:00 PM CST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 70 counties

Columbia County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Howard County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Little River County, AR, Miller County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Union County, AR, Beauregard Parish, LA, Bienville Parish, LA, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Calcasieu Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Cameron Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Austin County, TX, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Cherokee County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Harris County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Madison County, TX, Marion County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Morris County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Newton County, TX, Orange County, TX, Panola County, TX, Polk County, TX, Red River County, TX, Rusk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Shelby County, TX, Smith County, TX, Titus County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Walker County, TX, Waller County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:41 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
10%
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
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 8, 1:11 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCamp, Franklin, Smith, Upshur, Wood49 min
Mar 8, 1:21 PM CSTTornado WarningLCHVernon9 min
Mar 8, 1:44 PM CSTTornado WarningSHVCamp, Franklin, Upshur, Wood31 min
Mar 8, 1:58 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCamp, Cass, Franklin, Harrison, Marion, Morris and 3 more45 min
Mar 8, 2:41 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVGrant, Natchitoches, Winn64 min
Mar 8, 2:52 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVDe Soto, Sabine38 min
Mar 8, 3:25 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningSHVLittle River3 hr
Mar 8, 3:31 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVBossier, Caddo, De Soto, Red River, Webster21 min
Mar 8, 3:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCaldwell, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Winn50 min
Mar 8, 4:26 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCaldwell, Jackson, Ouachita, Union, Winn49 min
Mar 8, 4:55 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningSHVColumbia, Lafayette, Miller15 hr
Mar 8, 5:13 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCaldwell, Ouachita, Union35 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

Shreveport, LA (KBAD), launched 12:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 84 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2016-03-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 7 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2016-03-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 280 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-109 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
710 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
280 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
415 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

812 
WWUS20 KWNS 081838
SEL8  
SPC WW 081838
ARZ000-LAZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-CWZ000-090000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 38
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1240 PM CST TUE MAR 8 2016

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS
  WESTERN LOUISIANA
  FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
  PARTS OF EAST TEXAS
  COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1240 PM UNTIL
  600 PM CST.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE

SUMMARY...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO SPREAD
EASTWARD/NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS EAST TEXAS AND ADJACENT AREAS...AND
WILL PERSIST/STRENGTHEN GRADUALLY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.  THE
STRONGEST STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A RISK FOR LOCALLY DAMAGING
WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES...ALONG WITH SOME POTENTIAL FOR
MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 75 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH OF TEXARKANA
ARKANSAS TO 50 MILES WEST OF PORT ARTHUR TEXAS.  FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 37...

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23040.


...GOSS

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 8, 3:11 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas and 7 more94 min
Mar 8, 5:52 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCUnion83 min
Mar 7, 6:42 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBosque, Comanche, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis and 10 more63 min
Mar 7, 11:41 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBorden, Coke, Concho, Crane, Crockett, Dawson and 27 more2 hr
Mar 8, 1:18 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBosque, Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Collin and 48 more10 hr
Mar 8, 3:36 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Cottle, Dickens and 6 more84 min
Mar 8, 3:57 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Brown, Callahan, Clay, Coleman and 36 more2 hr
Mar 8, 7:06 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Bosque and 64 more2 hr
Mar 8, 7:24 AM CSTTornado WatchSPCAnderson, Bastrop, Bell, Blanco, Brazos, Burleson and 29 more8 hr
Mar 8, 9:00 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bastrop, Bell, Bosque, Burleson, Burnet and 35 more90 min
Mar 8, 10:46 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAngelina, Cherokee, Hardin, Houston, Jasper, Liberty and 12 more89 min
Mar 8, 1:10 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBell, Blanco, Bosque, Brown, Burnet, Coke and 32 more95 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2016Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2016Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2016Every tornado 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.