Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 97

March 31, 2023Colbert County, Franklin County, Lauderdale County, Alabama; 22 counties in Mississippi; 40 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 31, 2023, 5:58 PM CDT for Colbert County, Franklin County, Lauderdale County, Alabama; 22 counties in Mississippi; 40 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 31, 2023, 5:58 PM CDT (22:58 UTC)
Expired
Apr 1, 2023, 12:10 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Particularly dangerous situation
Yes
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 65 counties

Colbert County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Panola County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Union County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Benton County, TN, Carroll County, TN, Cheatham County, TN, Chester County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Davidson County, TN, Decatur County, TN, Dickson County, TN, Fayette County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Giles County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Hardin County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henderson County, TN, Henry County, TN, Hickman County, TN, Houston County, TN, Humphreys County, TN, Lauderdale County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN, Macon County, TN, Madison County, TN, Marshall County, TN, Maury County, TN, McNairy County, TN, Montgomery County, TN, Perry County, TN, Robertson County, TN, Rutherford County, TN, Shelby County, TN, Stewart County, TN, Sumner County, TN, Tipton County, TN, Trousdale County, TN, Wayne County, TN, Weakley County, TN, Williamson County, TN, Wilson County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:00 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
90%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
80%
Ten or more severe wind reports
70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
60%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 31, 6:11 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMEGCrockett, Gibson, Haywood, Madison49 min
Mar 31, 6:32 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGTunica43 min
Mar 31, 6:45 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCarroll, Gibson, Henderson, Madison45 min
Mar 31, 7:09 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMEGDeSoto, Tate, Tunica51 min
Mar 31, 7:28 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGBenton, Carroll10 min
Mar 31, 7:35 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMEGDeSoto, Tate, Tunica40 min
Mar 31, 8:06 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGBenton, DeSoto, Marshall39 min
Mar 31, 8:38 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMEGBenton, Marshall, Tippah37 min
Mar 31, 8:42 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGTunica33 min
Mar 31, 9:08 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGDeSoto, Tunica37 min
Mar 31, 9:14 PM CDTTornado Warning Considerable damage threatMEGChester, Hardeman, Hardin, McNairy46 min
Mar 31, 9:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGCrockett, Gibson, Haywood45 min
Mar 31, 9:34 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGDeSoto, Marshall41 min
Mar 31, 9:44 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGChester, Decatur, Hardin, Henderson, McNairy30 min
Mar 31, 9:45 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCarroll, Crockett, Gibson, Haywood45 min
Mar 31, 10:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXHickman, Lewis, Perry, Wayne26 min
Mar 31, 10:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette, Shelby27 min
Mar 31, 10:07 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGMarshall23 min
Mar 31, 10:09 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGBenton, Carroll, Henry51 min
Mar 31, 10:16 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGBenton, Henry22 min
Mar 31, 10:20 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCoahoma, Panola, Quitman, Tunica25 min
Mar 31, 10:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette, Hardeman53 min
Mar 31, 10:24 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedOHXHouston, Stewart36 min
Mar 31, 10:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGCarroll, Crockett, Gibson, Madison33 min
Mar 31, 10:33 PM CDTTornado WarningOHXHouston, Humphreys27 min
Mar 31, 10:34 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCoahoma, Panola, Quitman41 min
Mar 31, 10:41 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCoahoma, Panola, Quitman34 min
Mar 31, 10:51 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGChester, Hardeman, McNairy39 min
Mar 31, 10:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGBenton, Carroll, Henderson38 min
Mar 31, 10:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXMontgomery, Stewart36 min
Mar 31, 10:56 PM CDTTornado WarningOHXDickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery34 min
Mar 31, 11:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette, Hardeman45 min
Mar 31, 11:09 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGLafayette, Marshall, Panola, Tate16 min
Mar 31, 11:12 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGLafayette, Panola, Quitman15 min
Mar 31, 11:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXCheatham, Dickson, Montgomery, Robertson40 min
Mar 31, 11:21 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatMEGChester, Decatur, Hardin, Henderson, McNairy39 min
Mar 31, 11:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXCheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Montgomery, Robertson and 1 more35 min
Mar 31, 11:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMEGChester, Hardeman, McNairy34 min
Mar 31, 11:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXCheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys33 min
Mar 31, 11:39 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGLafayette, Panola18 min
Mar 31, 11:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGBenton, Decatur19 min
Mar 31, 11:41 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedOHXPerry, Wayne34 min
Mar 31, 11:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMEGAlcorn, Benton, Tippah45 min
Mar 31, 11:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXCheatham, Davidson, Robertson, Sumner, Wilson36 min
Mar 31, 11:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMEGChester, Decatur, Hardin, Henderson, McNairy49 min
Mar 31, 11:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXCheatham, Davidson, Dickson34 min
Apr 1, 12:01 AM CDTTornado WarningOHXCheatham, Dickson16 min
Apr 1, 12:06 AM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatOHXLawrence, Lewis, Maury, Perry, Wayne39 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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 105 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2023-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 30 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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2023-03-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 490 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
30 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-335 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
806 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
490 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
655 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 31, 5:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColbert, Franklin, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone and 1 more92 min
Mar 31, 12:28 PM CDTTornado Watch PDSSPCBallard, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, McCracken11 hr
Mar 31, 12:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBallard, Carlisle, Hickman97 min
Mar 31, 3:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCalloway, Fulton, Graves, Trigg93 min
Mar 31, 6:20 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBreckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess and 18 more115 min
Mar 31, 6:59 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Boyle, Breckinridge and 55 more7 hr
Mar 31, 10:44 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDeSoto, Tunica2 hr
Mar 31, 10:47 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Coahoma, DeSoto, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola and 6 more58 min
Mar 31, 6:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDeSoto, Tate, Tunica56 min
Mar 31, 6:59 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDeSoto, Tate, Tunica61 min
Mar 31, 5:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCShelby, Tipton31 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2023Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2023Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2023Every 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.