Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2019

Tornado Watch 702

December 16, 201933 counties in Alabama; Greene County, Perry County, Wayne County, Mississippi; 6 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 16, 2019, 3:47 PM CST for 33 counties in Alabama; Greene County, Perry County, Wayne County, Mississippi; 6 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 10 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 16, 2019, 3:47 PM CST (21:47 UTC)
Expired
Dec 17, 2019, 2:00 AM CST
In force
10 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 42 counties

Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Winston County, AL, Greene County, MS, Perry County, MS, Wayne County, MS, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Moore County, TN, Wayne County, TN

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:49 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
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 16, 3:59 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNColbert, Franklin, Lauderdale61 min
Dec 16, 4:25 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXLawrence, Lewis, Perry, Wayne35 min
Dec 16, 4:26 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNColbert, Franklin, Lauderdale49 min
Dec 16, 4:32 PM CSTTornado Warning Tornado observedHUNColbert, Lauderdale43 min
Dec 16, 4:34 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXLawrence, Wayne41 min
Dec 16, 4:52 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNColbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone53 min
Dec 16, 4:56 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNColbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan49 min
Dec 16, 5:13 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNLimestone, Madison, Morgan62 min
Dec 16, 5:15 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXGiles, Lawrence, Marshall, Maury45 min
Dec 16, 5:39 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNLimestone, Madison51 min
Dec 16, 5:49 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNLincoln26 min
Dec 16, 6:03 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNJackson, Madison57 min
Dec 16, 6:14 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNJackson, Madison31 min
Dec 16, 6:14 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNFranklin, Lincoln, Moore31 min
Dec 16, 6:27 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNJackson33 min
Dec 16, 6:39 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNJackson39 min
Dec 16, 6:44 PM CSTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMOBChoctaw61 min
Dec 16, 6:46 PM CSTTornado WarningHUNFranklin17 min
Dec 16, 7:27 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw35 min
Dec 16, 7:34 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXMarengo, Sumter56 min
Dec 16, 7:40 PM CSTTornado WarningMOBChoctaw14 min
Dec 16, 8:09 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXGreene, Hale66 min
Dec 16, 8:15 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw45 min
Dec 16, 8:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw49 min
Dec 16, 9:02 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXBibb, Hale, Perry58 min
Dec 16, 9:23 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry38 min
Dec 16, 9:34 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUNDeKalb13 min
Dec 16, 9:38 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Bibb, Chilton, Dallas67 min
Dec 16, 9:59 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXBibb, Chilton, Shelby31 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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 203 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2019-12-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 268 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2019-12-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 220 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
268 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-205 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
760 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
220 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 16, 3:10 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColbert, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Jefferson, Lamar and 8 more65 min
Dec 16, 4:45 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColbert, Fayette, Franklin, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence and 5 more60 min
Dec 16, 9:43 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds, Humphreys and 9 more3 hr
Dec 16, 10:02 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCoahoma, DeSoto, Quitman, Tate, Tunica118 min
Dec 16, 10:40 AM CSTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Claiborne and 23 more9 hr
Dec 16, 1:16 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson and 2 more89 min
Dec 16, 1:52 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlcorn, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw and 22 more83 min
Dec 16, 2:22 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCAlcorn, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay and 30 more8 hr
Dec 16, 3:08 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAmite, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence, Lincoln and 3 more67 min
Dec 16, 4:32 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCovington, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lawrence, Marion and 1 more88 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2019Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2019Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2019Every 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.