Alert archive / Alabama / Mesoscale Discussions in 2023

Mesoscale Discussion 331

March 24, 202316 counties in Alabama; 4 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 24, 2023, 9:07 PM CDT for 16 counties in Alabama; 4 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 83 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 24, 2023, 9:07 PM CDT (02:07 UTC)
Expired: Mar 24, 2023, 10:30 PM CDT
In force: 83 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning: Severe potential...watch likely
Chance of a watch: 95%

Counties Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Giles County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Wayne County, TN

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:06 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.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

Tornado Watch 77Mar 24, 9:25 PM CDT

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 2.1 hours before the alert went out and 126 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1670 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 24, 9:27 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Fayette, Franklin, Jackson and 10 more	5 hr
Mar 24, 9:57 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Marion	63 min
Mar 24, 10:55 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison	3 hr
Mar 24, 11:36 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blount, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Fayette, Jefferson and 9 more	114 min
Mar 25, 10:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Houston	8 hr
Mar 25, 12:39 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Houston	66 min
Mar 24, 8:34 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Crockett, Davidson and 18 more	116 min
Mar 25, 12:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Hamilton and 13 more	5 hr
Mar 25, 1:54 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Hamilton, Knox, Loudon and 7 more	2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2023 Mesoscale Discussions in Tennessee, 2023 Every mesoscale discussion in 2023

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.