Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 715

December 9, 20237 counties in Alabama; 13 counties in Kentucky; 20 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 9, 2023, 3:20 PM CST for 7 counties in Alabama; 13 counties in Kentucky; 20 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 9, 2023, 3:20 PM CST (21:20 UTC)
Expired: Dec 9, 2023, 10:13 PM CST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 40 counties

Colbert County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Adair County, KY, Boyle County, KY, Casey County, KY, Clinton County, KY, Cumberland County, KY, Lincoln County, KY, Marion County, KY, McCreary County, KY, Pulaski County, KY, Rockcastle County, KY, Russell County, KY, Taylor County, KY, Wayne County, KY, Bedford County, TN, Cannon County, TN, Clay County, TN, Coffee County, TN, Cumberland County, TN, DeKalb County, TN, Fentress County, TN, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Grundy County, TN, Jackson County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Marshall County, TN, Moore County, TN, Overton County, TN, Pickett County, TN, Putnam County, TN, Van Buren County, TN, Warren County, TN, White County, TN

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:25 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: 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: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 9, 4:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	30 min
Dec 9, 5:46 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Clay, Macon	29 min
Dec 9, 5:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	26 min
Dec 9, 5:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LMK	Cumberland, Monroe	33 min
Dec 9, 5:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Clay, Jackson, Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale	11 min
Dec 9, 6:06 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LMK	Cumberland, Monroe	24 min
Dec 9, 6:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LMK	Clinton, Cumberland, Monroe, Russell	33 min
Dec 9, 6:28 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lauderdale	32 min
Dec 9, 6:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Giles, Lawrence, Wayne	26 min
Dec 9, 6:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin	37 min
Dec 9, 6:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	33 min
Dec 9, 6:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Giles, Lawrence	47 min
Dec 9, 6:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	JKL	McCreary, Wayne	21 min
Dec 9, 7:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone	23 min
Dec 9, 7:18 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Bedford, Rutherford	27 min
Dec 9, 7:48 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Bedford, Coffee	27 min
Dec 9, 8:05 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Bedford, Coffee	25 min
Dec 9, 8:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Coffee, Grundy, Warren	27 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 99 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: 571 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 390 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 388 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 9, 10:50 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale	115 min
Dec 9, 1:59 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Lauderdale	91 min
Dec 9, 2:45 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan	90 min
Dec 9, 3:00 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Fayette, Lamar, Pickens	2 hr
Dec 9, 3:56 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Fayette, Greene, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and 3 more	8 hr
Dec 9, 5:03 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison	87 min
Dec 9, 5:56 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens and 4 more	94 min
Dec 9, 11:35 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Allen, Barren, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian and 21 more	9 hr
Dec 9, 5:59 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Bath, Bourbon, Boyle, Breathitt, Carter and 28 more	3 hr
Dec 9, 4:15 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Maury, Robertson and 3 more	90 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2023 Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2023 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 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.