Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 59

March 15, 202611 counties in Alabama; 12 counties in Georgia; 52 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 15, 2026, 8:22 PM CDT for 11 counties in Alabama; 12 counties in Georgia; 52 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 9 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 15, 2026, 8:22 PM CDT (01:22 UTC)
Expired: Mar 16, 2026, 5:00 AM CDT
In force: 9 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 0.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 70 kt

All 75 counties

Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Bartow County, GA, Catoosa County, GA, Chattooga County, GA, Dade County, GA, Fannin County, GA, Floyd County, GA, Gilmer County, GA, Gordon County, GA, Murray County, GA, Pickens County, GA, Walker County, GA, Whitfield County, GA, Bedford County, TN, Bledsoe County, TN, Bradley County, TN, Cannon County, TN, Cheatham County, TN, Clay County, TN, Coffee County, TN, Cumberland County, TN, Davidson County, TN, DeKalb County, TN, Dickson County, TN, Fentress County, TN, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Grundy County, TN, Hamilton County, TN, Hickman County, TN, Houston County, TN, Humphreys County, TN, Jackson County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Macon County, TN, Marion County, TN, Marshall County, TN, Maury County, TN, McMinn County, TN, Meigs County, TN, Monroe County, TN, Montgomery County, TN, Moore County, TN, Morgan County, TN, Overton County, TN, Perry County, TN, Pickett County, TN, Polk County, TN, Putnam County, TN, Rhea County, TN, Robertson County, TN, Rutherford County, TN, Sequatchie County, TN, Smith County, TN, Stewart County, TN, Sumner County, TN, Trousdale County, TN, Van Buren County, TN, Warren County, TN, Wayne County, TN, White County, TN, Williamson County, TN, Wilson County, TN

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:25 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: 30%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 90%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 70%
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: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 8:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Stewart	65 min
Mar 15, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Perry, Wayne	46 min
Mar 15, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	30 min
Mar 15, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Hickman, Humphreys, Perry	64 min
Mar 15, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury, Perry, Wayne	67 min
Mar 15, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Cheatham, Dickson, Montgomery, Robertson	59 min
Mar 15, 9:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	43 min
Mar 15, 9:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OHX	Montgomery	25 min
Mar 15, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys	66 min
Mar 15, 9:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale	54 min
Mar 15, 10:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Williamson	26 min
Mar 15, 10:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OHX	Maury, Williamson	30 min
Mar 15, 10:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lawrence	54 min
Mar 15, 10:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Robertson, Sumner and 2 more	53 min
Mar 15, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, Lewis, Maury, Wayne and 1 more	50 min
Mar 15, 10:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HUN	Lauderdale	27 min
Mar 15, 10:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Morgan	62 min
Mar 15, 10:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OHX	Davidson, Sumner, Wilson	26 min
Mar 15, 10:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Rutherford, Wilson	34 min
Mar 15, 10:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OHX	Giles, Lawrence	31 min
Mar 15, 11:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Giles, Marshall, Maury and 3 more	42 min
Mar 15, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan	53 min
Mar 15, 11:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Clay, DeKalb, Jackson, Macon, Rutherford, Smith and 3 more	52 min
Mar 15, 11:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lincoln, Moore	64 min
Mar 15, 11:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan	64 min
Mar 15, 11:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OHX	Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Rutherford, Warren	62 min
Mar 15, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Clay, DeKalb, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Putnam and 1 more	40 min
Mar 15, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Clay, DeKalb, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Putnam and 1 more	40 min
Mar 15, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Cullman, Lawrence, Madison, Marshall, Morgan	76 min
Mar 16, 12:13 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Franklin, Lincoln, Moore	62 min
Mar 16, 12:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Coffee, DeKalb, Grundy, Van Buren, Warren, White	57 min
Mar 16, 12:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Clay, Fentress, Overton, Pickett, Putnam	56 min
Mar 16, 12:38 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Cumberland	67 min
Mar 16, 12:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bledsoe, Hamilton, Marion, Meigs, Rhea, Roane and 1 more	64 min
Mar 16, 12:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Jackson, Madison, Marshall	62 min
Mar 16, 12:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Campbell, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Morgan and 3 more	53 min
Mar 16, 1:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	Cullman, DeKalb, Marshall, Morgan	55 min
Mar 16, 1:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Walker	40 min
Mar 16, 1:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Knox, Loudon, Morgan and 4 more	65 min
Mar 16, 1:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bradley, Hamilton, McMinn, Marion, Meigs, Rhea and 1 more	49 min
Mar 16, 1:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Cumberland	18 min
Mar 16, 1:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall	39 min
Mar 16, 1:54 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HUN	DeKalb, Marshall	35 min
Mar 16, 1:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Walker	48 min
Mar 16, 2:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bradley, Hamilton, McMinn, Monroe, Polk	55 min
Mar 16, 2:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Blount, Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Knox and 3 more	54 min
Mar 16, 2:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Floyd, Gordon, Murray and 2 more	39 min
Mar 16, 2:39 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	FFC	Whitfield	21 min
Mar 16, 2:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount, McMinn, Monroe, Polk	64 min
Mar 16, 3:13 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Whitfield	47 min
Mar 16, 3:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Floyd, Gordon, Pickens	41 min
Mar 16, 3:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount, Monroe, Polk	61 min
Mar 16, 3:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Dawson, Fannin, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Pickens, Towns and 2 more	27 min
Mar 16, 3:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Cherokee, Dawson, Gordon, Pickens	26 min
Mar 16, 4:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and 5 more	44 min
Mar 16, 4:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Hall and 5 more	43 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 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 71 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: 59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -216 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1722 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 536 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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, 8:28 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, 1:21 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Autauga, Chilton, Clarke, Coosa, Dallas, Marengo and 3 more	54 min
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
Mar 16, 3:21 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Rabun, Towns, Union	114 min
Mar 16, 3:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Lincoln, Rabun and 1 more	6 hr
Mar 16, 5:01 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 41 more	89 min
Mar 16, 6:23 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Crawford and 28 more	97 min
Mar 16, 6:54 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 50 more	96 min
Mar 16, 6:59 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 60 more	7 hr
Mar 16, 9:36 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 39 more	84 min
Mar 16, 11:49 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch and 20 more	86 min
Mar 16, 12:33 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Camden, Charlton, Glynn	4 hr
Mar 15, 11:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke and 16 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2026 Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2026 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 2026 Every 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.