Mesoscale Discussion 101

Issued

Jan 21, 2017, 9:57 PM CST (03:57 UTC)

Expired

Jan 21, 2017, 11:30 PM CST

In force

93 min

Issued by

the Storm Prediction Center

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:57 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.

325 
ACUS11 KWNS 220357
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 220357 
GAZ000-FLZ000-ALZ000-MSZ000-220530-

Mesoscale Discussion 0101
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
0957 PM CST Sat Jan 21 2017

Areas affected...Central and southern Alabama and parts of the
Florida Panhandle into far southwest Georgia

Concerning...Tornado Watch 17...

Valid 220357Z - 220530Z

The severe weather threat for Tornado Watch 17 continues.

SUMMARY...Severe/tornado risk continues, particularly across
southern and western portions of Tornado Watch 17.

DISCUSSION...Latest radar loop shows a west-to-east band of
strong/locally severe storms extending from southeast Mississippi
east into far southwest Georgia, mainly to the cool side of the
similarly aligned west-to-east warm front lying in the vicinity of
the Florida/Alabama border.  North of the band of active updrafts --
i.e. into the southeast quarter of Alabama and adjacent west-central
Georgia -- an expanding area of stratiform/anvil precipitation is
noted.  While this evolving MCS will continue shifting
east-northeast with time, it appears that active/severe storms will
remain limited to the southern fringe of the broader storm complex.

Farther to the west, storms continue to shift east-northeast across
central and southeast Mississippi into west central and southwest
Alabama.  With less extensive stratiform-type precipitation falling
northeast/upstream of this convection, inferring a more favorable
airmass ahead of the storms, severe/tornado risk appears to be
increasing across western and central Alabama in the short term.

..Goss.. 01/22/2017

...Please see www.spc.noaa.gov for graphic product...

ATTN...WFO...FFC...TAE...BMX...MOB...JAN...

LAT...LON   32998831 33238716 32648497 31278373 30408514 30708631
            30758834 31598874 32998831

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2017Mesoscale Discussions in Georgia, 2017Mesoscale Discussions in Florida, 2017Every mesoscale discussion in 2017

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.