Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 189
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2026, 10:58 PM CDT for 21 counties in Alabama; Washington Parish, Louisiana; 18 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 9 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 6, 2026, 10:58 PM CDT (03:58 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 9 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 40 counties
Baldwin County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dallas County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Macon County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Washington Parish, LA, Covington County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Hancock County, MS, Harrison County, MS, Jackson County, MS, Jefferson Davis County, MS, Jones County, MS, Lamar County, MS, Lawrence County, MS, Marion County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Pike County, MS, Stone County, MS, Walthall County, MS, Wayne County, MS
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:02 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
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
11 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 11:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Forrest, Lamar, Marion | 67 min |
| May 6, 11:30 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Autauga, Chambers, Chilton, Dallas, Elmore, Lee and 4 more | 4 hr |
| May 6, 11:38 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | JAN | Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lawrence | 3 hr |
| May 6, 11:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Forrest | 18 min |
| May 7, 12:17 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Greene, Perry | 58 min |
| May 7, 2:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Baldwin, Conecuh, Escambia, Monroe | 51 min |
| May 7, 2:34 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale, Marengo | 26 min |
| May 7, 2:55 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas, Perry | 35 min |
| May 7, 3:18 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Covington, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Marion | 42 min |
| May 7, 3:39 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN | Forrest, Jones, Lamar | 31 min |
| May 7, 6:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Covington | 46 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
- Mesoscale Discussion 658 Tornado watch 186
- Mesoscale Discussion 659 Tornado watch 186
- Mesoscale Discussion 660 Tornado watch 188
- Mesoscale Discussion 661 Tornado watch 187
- Mesoscale Discussion 662 Tornado watch 186...187
- Mesoscale Discussion 663 Tornado watch 189
- Mesoscale Discussion 664 Tornado watch 189...190
- Mesoscale Discussion 665 Tornado watch 189...190
The nearest sounding before it
Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 00:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 208 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1054 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -44 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 482 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 113 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 209 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.8
- Supercell composite
- 16.3
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 7:31 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Washington | 59 min |
| May 6, 8:00 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chambers, Cleburne, Randolph, Russell | 60 min |
| May 6, 8:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Bibb, Butler, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke and 20 more | 2 hr |
| May 6, 10:04 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke and 14 more | 56 min |
| May 7, 1:38 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Barbour, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 10 more | 97 min |
| May 7, 1:58 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston | 11 hr |
| May 7, 4:20 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barbour, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw and 8 more | 115 min |
| May 7, 7:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva and 2 more | 86 min |
| May 6, 7:16 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Amite, Copiah, Covington, Franklin, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis and 3 more | 59 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2026Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 2026Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2026Every tornado watch 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.