Meso18-19 Experiment Field Catalog
31 October – 1 November 2018 – Meso18-19 IOP0
Event summary: Widespread tornado outbreak, with several dozen tornadoes across much of Louisiana and Mississippi into far W Alabama from the late evening hours of 31 October into the early morning hours of 1 November. Most tornadoes were from QLCS modes, but at least one long-lived supercellular tornado occurred at Alexandria, Louisiana.
Deployment summary: A limited number of meso-alpha domain soundings were launched as a shakedown opportunity for the Meso18-19 experiment between 31/1200 UTC and 01/0000 UTC. No meso-beta domain operations were conducted.
5-6 November 2018 – Meso18-19 IOP1
Event summary: Bimodal tornado outbreak. The initial mode consisted of several long-tracked tornadoes across N Louisiana, associated with discrete supercells in the late afternoon and early evening of 5 November. The second mode consisted of numerous tornadoes across NE Mississippi, N Alabama, Middle Tennessee, and central Kentucky from the late evening hours of 5 November into the predawn hours of 6 November. This phase was produced by a QLCS featuring several embedded supercells.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 05/0000 UTC to 06/1800 UTC. Meso-beta domain operations were conducted from 0000 UTC 6 November to around 1000 UTC. The meso-beta domain was arranged across north-central and NE Alabama, with MoDLS at a boat launch along the Tennessee River near Scottsboro, MAX located at Grove Oak, MIPS at UAH, CLAMPS-2 at Courtland, and sounding teams at those locations, as well as with the UAH M3V mobile mesonet. An EF1 tornado occurred near Scottsboro, Alabama, approximately 16 km west of the UAH MoDLS platform. Both the MoDLS and M3V sampled the RFD region of the embedded supercell associated with the Scottsboro tornado.
30 November – 1 December 2016 – Meso18-19 IOP2
Event summary: Three-mode tornado outbreak. First mode featured a mix of supercellular and QLCS tornadoes across E Oklahoma, NW Arkansas, and SW Missouri during the late evening and overnight hours of 30 November-1 December. The second and most significant mode was across central Illinois, featuring numerous supercellular tornadoes across central Illinois near the surface triple point. The third mode featured a couple of weak tornadoes associated with discrete cells in S Alabama.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 30/0000 UTC to 02/0000 UTC. No meso-beta domain activities were conducted.
5-6 February 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP3
Event summary: A few isolated tornadoes along a stationary front in N Arkansas and Middle Tennessee.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 06/0000 UTC to 07/1800 UTC. No meso-beta domain activities were conducted.
12 February 2019
Event summary: Severe QLCS with isolated tornadoes and wind damage across S Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Deployment summary: No meso-alpha sounding operations. Meso-beta operations were conducted in N Alabama as the QLCS developed and passed over the Tennessee Valley in the predawn hours of 12 February, before it intensified to severe-criteria.
19-20 February 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP4
Event summary: Strong cold-air damming across the Southeast led to a predominance of elevated convection. No severe storms were observed.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 19/1200 UTC to 21/0000 UTC. No meso-beta domain activities were conducted.
22-24 February 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP5
Event summary: Mixed-mode severe weather event consisting of quasi-discrete supercells and line segments. A pair of supercells produced significant tornadoes in NE Mississippi, an EF2 tornado at Burnsville and a killer EF3 at Columbus. The Columbus supercell continued into NW Alabama, producing several additional tornadoes.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 22/1200 UTC to 24/0600 UTC. Full meso-beta domain operations were conducted between 23/1800 UTC and 24/0300 UTC across NE Mississippi and NW and N-cntl Alabama. The Burnsville EF2 passed 15 km NW of the RaDAPS profiler site at Iuka and was viewed by the UAH M3V team from less than 6 km away.
2-4 March 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP6
Event summary: Significant mixed-mode tornado outbreak across S Alabama, S Georgia, the Florida panhandle, and South Carolina. The most notable event was a 70-mi. long EF4 tornado track from SW of Beauregard, Alabama, to NE of Talbotton, Georgia, that killed 23 people. Numerous additional significant tornadoes were observed, including at Eufaula, Alabama, and just outside of Tallahassee, Florida.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 02/1800 UTC to 04/0000 UTC. No meso-beta domain activities were conducted.
8-10 March 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP7
Event summary: Mixed-mode event with supercells and line segments across much of the South, with wind damage and isolated tornadoes spanning from NE Texas to N Alabama and Middle Tennessee. Warm sector was characterized by extreme low-level wind shear and widespread convection. Convection was so widespread as to appear to lead to destructive interference, with storms struggling to maintain intensity over long periods of time.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 08/1800 UTC to 10/1200 UTC. A full meso-beta domain deployment was conducted across NE Mississippi and NW/N-cntl Alabama from around 09/1800 UTC to 10/0300 UTC. An EF1 tornado occurred approximately 16 km N of the RaDAPS site at Iuka, Mississippi.
14 March 2019
Event summary: Outbreak of mostly weak supercellular tornadoes across N and central Alabama during the afternoon and evening hours of 14 March. Event was dominated by numerous discrete supercells. Low-level stability likely precluded a far more intense tornado event.
Deployment summary: No meso-alpha sounding operations. Full meso-beta domain operations were conducted across N-central and NE Alabama. An EF1 tornado occurred at Holly Pond, Alabama, approximately 20 km east of Cullman. Most assets were focused on the Sand Mountain region, where no tornadoes were observed. Tornadoes occurred within 10 km of the southern end of Sand Mountain in Blount County.
12-14 April 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP8
Event summary: Significant supercellular tornado outbreak in two primary phases. The first phase occurred in east Texas during the morning and early afternoon hours of 13 April, including multiple significant and killer tornadoes. The second and largest phase occurred across much of Mississippi and Alabama from the late afternoon hours of 13 April to the predawn hours of 14 April. This phase also including numerous large and significant tornadoes, particularly across Mississippi.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 13/0000 UTC to 14/1200 UTC. A full meso-beta domain deployment occurred across NE Mississippi and NW Alabama from around 13/2300 UTC to 14/0900 UTC. A pair of extremely large tornadoes occurred in close proximity to the KGWX WSR-88D at the SW corner of the meso-beta domain. The first tornado killed one person at Hamilton, Mississippi. The second tornado was over one mile wide and passed around 900 m east of KGWX. KGWX recorded a maximum Doppler velocity of 81.5 m/s at 56 m ARL. Additional weak tornadoes occurred in NW Alabama, including an EF1 tornado at Muscle Shoals, 22 km SE of the MAX site west of Florence.
17-19 April 2019 – Meso18-19 IOP9
Event summary: Intense QLCS event across central Mississippi and N and central Alabama during the afternoon and evening hours of 18 April. The QLCS produced 43 confirmed tornadoes in Mississippi, largely associated with two very large embedded mesovortices. Tornado production waned across far E-cntl Mississippi, with no tornadoes in Alabama. However, widespread non-tornadic wind damage did occur across much of Alabama, including the Birmingham and Huntsville metro areas.
Deployment summary: Full meso-alpha domain sounding operations from 17/1200 UTC to 19/1200 UTC. A full meso-beta domain deployment was conducted across NW Alabama and far NE Mississippi from 18/1700 UTC to 19/0100 UTC. No tornadoes were observed in the meso-beta domain, but there were numerous instances of wind damage, including wind damage observed by the M3V team in Fayette, Walker, and Winston Counties. The M3V observed a peak wind gust of 45 MPH from within a broad line-break vortex in Fayette, Alabama, as it slowly weakened after producing numerous tornadoes in central Mississippi.
9 May 2019
Event summary: Severe QLCS across N Alabama. Three tornadoes were confirmed: an EF0 in Madison County near the Tennessee/Alabama border N of Huntsville, and two EF1s in DeKalb County atop Sand Mountain.
Deployment summary: No meso-alpha domain sounding operations. A couple soundings were launched by UAH crews in NE Alabama ahead of the QLCS, and profiler observations were gathered at UAH.