Alert archive / Alabama / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026

Mesoscale Discussion 261

March 16, 20269 counties in Alabama

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 16, 2026, 1:21 AM CDT for 9 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 54 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 16, 2026, 1:21 AM CDT (06:21 UTC)
Expired: Mar 16, 2026, 2:15 AM CDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning: Tornado watch 60

Counties Autauga County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coosa County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Perry County, AL, Wilcox County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:23 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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 98 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: 264 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1402 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 373 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.4

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 15, 7:39 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bibb, Blount, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah and 19 more	2 hr
Mar 15, 8:22 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale and 5 more	9 hr
Mar 15, 8:28 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Mobile and 2 more	2 hr
Mar 15, 9:28 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Butler, Calhoun, Cherokee and 29 more	7 hr
Mar 15, 10:02 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, Lauderdale, Limestone	88 min
Mar 15, 10:54 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence and 4 more	2 hr
Mar 16, 2:37 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Coffee, Covington and 13 more	113 min
Mar 16, 3:10 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clay and 21 more	8 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Alabama, 2026 Every mesoscale discussion in 2026

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.