Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 2019

Tornado Watch 701

December 16, 201936 counties in Mississippi; Hardin County, McNairy County, Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 16, 2019, 2:22 PM CST for 36 counties in Mississippi; Hardin County, McNairy County, Tennessee. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 16, 2019, 2:22 PM CST (20:22 UTC)
Expired: Dec 16, 2019, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 38 counties

Alcorn County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Clarke County, MS, Clay County, MS, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Leake County, MS, Lee County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Marion County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Newton County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Scott County, MS, Smith County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Union County, MS, Webster County, MS, Winston County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Hardin County, TN, McNairy County, TN

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:21 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 16, 2:51 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lafayette	24 min
Dec 16, 3:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lafayette, Marshall, Pontotoc, Union	33 min
Dec 16, 3:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Union	28 min
Dec 16, 3:28 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Pontotoc, Union	32 min
Dec 16, 3:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe, Pontotoc and 1 more	48 min
Dec 16, 3:50 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Lee, Prentiss, Union	25 min
Dec 16, 4:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Prentiss, Tishomingo	33 min
Dec 16, 4:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jefferson Davis, Lawrence	61 min
Dec 16, 4:20 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Marion	55 min
Dec 16, 4:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe	65 min
Dec 16, 5:03 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis, Simpson, Smith	57 min
Dec 16, 5:04 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar	56 min
Dec 16, 5:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis, Simpson, Smith	42 min
Dec 16, 5:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jasper, Jones	48 min
Dec 16, 5:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	JAN	Jasper, Smith	45 min
Dec 16, 6:16 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jefferson Davis	32 min
Dec 16, 6:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper, Smith	38 min
Dec 16, 6:22 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threat	JAN	Clarke	53 min
Dec 16, 6:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Covington, Simpson, Smith	66 min
Dec 16, 7:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis	39 min
Dec 16, 7:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke, Lauderdale	37 min
Dec 16, 7:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper	53 min
Dec 16, 7:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper, Jones	64 min
Dec 16, 7:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	54 min
Dec 16, 8:09 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Clarke	36 min
Dec 16, 8:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Marion	45 min
Dec 16, 8:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington, Forrest, Jones, Lamar	47 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

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 155 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 513 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 82 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 386 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 392 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 16, 9:43 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Humphreys and 9 more	3 hr
Dec 16, 10:02 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Coahoma, DeSoto, Quitman, Tate, Tunica	118 min
Dec 16, 10:40 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne and 23 more	9 hr
Dec 16, 1:16 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson and 2 more	89 min
Dec 16, 1:52 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw and 22 more	83 min
Dec 16, 3:08 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Amite, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Lincoln and 3 more	67 min
Dec 16, 3:10 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alcorn, Attala, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay and 16 more	65 min
Dec 16, 3:47 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Greene, Perry, Wayne	10 hr
Dec 16, 4:32 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Covington, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lawrence, Marion and 1 more	88 min
Dec 16, 4:45 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Itawamba, Monroe, Tishomingo	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2019 Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2019 Every tornado watch in 2019

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.