Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2024

Tornado Watch 251

May 16, 202422 parishes in Louisiana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2024, 7:59 PM CDT for 22 parishes in Louisiana. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2024, 7:59 PM CDT (00:59 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2024, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 22 counties

Ascension Parish, LA, Assumption Parish, LA, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, East Feliciana Parish, LA, Iberville Parish, LA, Jefferson Parish, LA, Lafourche Parish, LA, Livingston Parish, LA, Orleans Parish, LA, Plaquemines Parish, LA, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA, Saint Bernard Parish, LA, Saint Charles Parish, LA, Saint Helena Parish, LA, Saint James Parish, LA, Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA, Saint Tammany Parish, LA, Tangipahoa Parish, LA, Terrebonne Parish, LA, Washington Parish, LA, West Baton Rouge Parish, LA, West Feliciana Parish, LA

The radar

The Hammond radar (KHDC), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:00 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: 30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 10%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana	52 min
May 16, 9:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LIX	Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee and 3 more	3 hr
May 16, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Livingston, Saint Helena	45 min
May 16, 10:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	LIX	Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, West Baton Rouge	40 min
May 16, 10:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana	20 min
May 16, 10:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, Livingston, Saint James and 1 more	38 min
May 16, 10:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Livingston, Saint Helena, Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington	51 min
May 16, 10:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LIX	Ascension, Saint James	25 min
May 16, 10:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	LIX	Saint James, Saint John the Baptist	21 min
May 16, 11:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LIX	Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, Saint Bernard, Saint Charles and 3 more	55 min
May 16, 11:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LIX	Livingston, Saint Helena, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington	2 hr
May 16, 11:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LIX	Saint Charles, Saint John the Baptist	14 min
May 16, 11:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LIX	Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, Saint Bernard, Saint Charles and 2 more	3 hr
May 16, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LIX	Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa	66 min
May 16, 11:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LIX	Saint Tammany, Washington	2 hr
May 16, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	LIX	Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, Saint Bernard	61 min
May 17, 12:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LIX	Orleans, Saint Tammany	55 min
May 17, 12:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Assumption, Lafourche, Saint James, Terrebonne	47 min
May 17, 12:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Jefferson, Lafourche, Plaquemines	59 min
May 17, 1:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Jefferson, Lafourche, Saint Charles, Saint John the Baptist	18 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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 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: 61 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -248 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1098 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:49 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis and 2 more	116 min
May 16, 10:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville and 18 more	2 hr
May 16, 10:53 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River	4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2024 Every tornado watch in 2024

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.