Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 210

May 11, 2023Ashley County, Chicot County, Union County, Arkansas; 25 parishes in Louisiana; 7 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2023, 9:24 AM CDT for Ashley County, Chicot County, Union County, Arkansas; 25 parishes in Louisiana; 7 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 11, 2023, 9:24 AM CDT (14:24 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2023, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 55 kt

All 35 counties

Ashley County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Union County, AR, Avoyelles Parish, LA, Bienville Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Catahoula Parish, LA, Concordia Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Franklin Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Tensas Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Adams County, MS, Claiborne County, MS, Issaquena County, MS, Jefferson County, MS, Sharkey County, MS, Warren County, MS, Washington County, MS

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:27 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: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 5%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 9:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	De Soto, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine	39 min
May 11, 9:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bienville, Jackson, Natchitoches, Winn	38 min
May 11, 10:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Grant, Natchitoches, Red River, Winn	54 min
May 11, 10:13 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	LaSalle	32 min
May 11, 10:17 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	SHV	De Soto, Natchitoches, Red River, Winn	3 hr
May 11, 10:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Catahoula, Franklin, Tensas	77 min
May 11, 10:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Catahoula, Franklin	65 min
May 11, 10:46 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	SHV	Columbia, Union	6 hr
May 11, 10:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caldwell, Grant, LaSalle, Winn	54 min
May 11, 11:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caldwell, Ouachita, Union	32 min
May 11, 11:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Franklin, Richland	71 min
May 11, 11:38 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Catahoula, Franklin	82 min
May 11, 11:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caldwell, Grant, LaSalle, Winn	44 min
May 11, 11:47 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Franklin, Madison, Tensas	41 min
May 11, 11:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Morehouse, Richland, West Carroll	64 min
May 11, 12:00 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	SHV	Union	5 hr
May 11, 12:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Richland, West Carroll	53 min
May 11, 12:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Madison, Tensas	73 min
May 11, 12:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Concordia, Tensas	97 min
May 11, 12:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	East Carroll, Morehouse, West Carroll	70 min
May 11, 1:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Ashley, Chicot	55 min
May 11, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	JAN	Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Issaquena, Madison, Rankin and 3 more	95 min
May 11, 1:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Humphreys, Issaquena, Madison, Sharkey, Washington, Yazoo	74 min
May 11, 1:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Ashley, Chicot	19 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 212 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: 2347 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 610 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 179 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 7.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 9:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Union	3 hr
May 11, 12:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Chicot	53 min
May 11, 12:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	East Feliciana, Pointe Coupee, Saint Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, West Feliciana	7 hr
May 11, 3:02 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Washington	88 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2023 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2023 Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2023 Every tornado watch 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.