Editing 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak (section)

== Meteorological synopsis ==
[[File:March 27, 1994 "Palm Sunday" Severe Weather Outbreak map.png|thumb|left|Day 1 outlook at 1930 UTC showing a high risk.]]
[[File:March2794stormreports.gif|thumb|right|Storm reports from the March 27, 1994 event.]]
The [[Storm Prediction Center|SPC]] started forecasting the outbreak on March 26, highlighting the risk of severe thunderstorms over the area that would eventually be impacted. They issued a "severe" forecast for most of the [[Southern United States|Southern]], and some of the [[Mid Atlantic United States|Mid-Atlantic states]], forecasting "the potential for supercell storms, along with the possibility of tornadoes."<ref name="WPCleanerAuto1">{{cite web |last=Hales |first=John E., Jr. |last2=Vescio |first2=Michael D. |last3=Koch |first3=Steven E. |title=The 27 March 1994 Tornado Outbreak in the Southeast U.S.: The Forecast Process from a Storm Prediction Center Perspective |url=https://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/hales/27mar94.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517234819/http://www.nwas.org/digest/papers/1997/Vol21No4/Pg3-Hales.pdf |archive-date=2012-05-17 |access-date=2025-04-10}}</ref>

By the morning of March 27, it was apparent that a very strong and potent airmass had set up over the Gulf states, with the SPC issuing a moderate risk for most of [[Alabama]], the southern half of [[Mississippi]], and most of [[Louisiana]] in their morning outlook. The 6 AM CST (1200 UTC) 500 mb analysis showed a strong southwest flow of near 80 [[knot (unit)|knots]] over the Southern U.S., while at the 850 MB level, there existed winds of near 50 knots coming out of the state of Louisiana.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/1994/03_27/march_27_1994_2.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014051215/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/1994/03_27/march_27_1994_2.php|archive-date=2008-10-14|title=NOAA's National Weather Service - Birmingham, Alabama}}</ref> At the surface, temperatures in Alabama, Mississippi, and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] were in the low 70's [[Fahrenheit]], with dewpoints were in the upper 60's to low 70's.<ref name="WPCleanerAuto1" /> [[Convective Available Potential Energy|CAPE]] values at [[Centreville, Alabama]] were nearing 1,200 [[joule|J]]/[[kilogram|kg]] with no cap to speak of. A surface front left by rain during the previous evening was situated over northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

By 9 AM CST (1500 UTC), thunderstorms and severe weather were not only occurring along the boundary setup by the rain from the previous evening in the northern portions of Alabama and Mississippi, but further to the south as well. At 9:18 AM CST (1518 UTC), the SPC issued a [[tornado watch]] for Eastern Mississippi and Northern Alabama. The storms then rapidly intensified, with tornado warnings being issued by the [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]] and [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]] NWS offices before 11 AM local time. Both the deadly F4 tornado that struck the Goshen United Methodist Church in [[Cherokee County, Alabama|Cherokee County]] and the [[Marshall County, Alabama|Marshall County]] F2 twister formed at about this time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/1994/03_27/march_27_1994_stormdata.php|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080725034112/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/1994/03_27/march_27_1994_stormdata.php|archive-date = 2008-07-25|title = NOAA's National Weather Service - Birmingham, Alabama}}</ref> The SPC also issued a [[Particularly dangerous situation|PDS Tornado Watch]] for all of Northern Georgia by 12 PM EST (1700 UTC), with the wording stating, "This is a particularly dangerous situation with the possibility of very damaging tornadoes. Also, large hail, dangerous lightning and damaging thunderstorm winds can be expected." Severe storms and tornadoes tracked into the northern Georgia region by 12:42 EST, and tornadoes continued to track across northern Georgia during the afternoon.

During the early-mid afternoon, analysis showed a very unstable airmass over the southern U.S., with CAPE values near 2,500 J/kg and [[Hydrodynamical helicity|SRH]] values of near 250 m<sup>2</sup>/s<sup>2</sup> at [[Jackson, Mississippi]]. The 1800 UTC Centreville, Alabama sounding showed similar conditions, with CAPE over 2,500 J/kg and SRH values of over 500 m<sup>2</sup>/s<sup>2</sup>. This resulted in an [[Energy Helicity Index|Energy Helicity Index (EHI)]] value of 8.49, which is strongly supportive of tornadic thunderstorms. Based on these soundings, the SPC issued a [[List of Storm Prediction Center high risk days|High Risk]] for their 1930 UTC outlook, noting a rapidly destabilized atmosphere and winds being much stronger than what was originally forecasted.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.convectiveoutlook.com/highrisk/19801999/94032719_spc.htm|title = March 27, 1994 1930Z Outlook}}</ref> Noting the presence of a shortwave trough that was tracking into Mississippi and Louisiana as well as rapidly falling pressures in advance of a frontal boundary, the SPC issued a tornado watch for eastern Louisiana and central Mississippi, however, there were no reported tornadoes in this region on March 27. The SPC, seeing that storms were tracking into the [[Carolinas]], issued a tornado watch for portions of the western and central Carolinas, as well as the portion of northeast Georgia not already included in the prior tornado watch. Tornadoes continued to track along this area from the mid-late afternoon, with an F3 tornado striking parts of northeast Georgia and the upstate of South Carolina, injuring 12, and another tornado along the border region of [[North Carolina]] and [[South Carolina]] injuring 13.

In Alabama, tornadoes continued in the central part of the state during the mid-late afternoon. An F1 tornado struck parts of [[Tuscaloosa County, Alabama|Tuscaloosa County]] just after 4 PM. Funnel clouds were seen in [[Hueytown, Alabama|Hueytown]] as a storm went over [[Jefferson County, Alabama|Jefferson County]] at around 4:30 PM local time. An F2 tornado was produced in [[Shelby County, Alabama|Shelby County]] at 5:30 CST, damaging a high school and a residential neighborhood before destroying two mobile home parks.

During the cleanup from the F4 tornado that struck Cherokee County, emergency responders had to take cover as another funnel cloud was spotted just before 6 PM CST. The storms also produced hail up to {{convert|3|in|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter and winds around {{convert|60|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. The storm system also left behind extensive flooding in [[Winston County, Alabama|Winston]] and [[Walker County, Alabama|Walker Counties]], with $150,000 worth of damage done to roads and bridges in Walker County. The final tornado of the outbreak was reported just before midnight in [[Greenville County, South Carolina|Greenville County]] in South Carolina. The National Weather Service offices in Birmingham, [[Atlanta]], and [[Athens, Georgia|Athens]] did not stop issuing warnings until late at night on the 27th or early in the morning on the 28th, issuing 75 tornado warnings and 182 severe weather products overall.

Overall, the outbreak of March 27, 1994 was not as synoptically evident as some of the past outbreaks that have occurred, as there was no deep surface low or trough present for forcing in the area where the storms occurred, and many of the ingredients necessary that were the cause of this outbreak were not able to be forecasted until the morning of the event.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/hales/palm.htm| title = Hales/Vescio 18th SLS Conference Article}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ems.psu.edu/~diercks/gaddy.html |title=Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak - 27 March 1994 |access-date=2016-05-30 |archive-date=2017-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511013619/http://www.ems.psu.edu/~diercks/gaddy.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>