Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 10, NWS Baltimore/Washington
NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at Jul 26, 2001, 4:16 PM EDT for King George County, Virginia. It was in force for 29 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 26, 2001, 4:16 PM EDT (20:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 26, 2001, 4:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Baltimore/Washington
- Area
- Whole counties
County King George County, VA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:19 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
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 78 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
- 364 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -66 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 802 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 54 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 77 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
681 WFUS51 KLWX 262016 TORLWX VAC099-262045- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON 416 PM EDT THU JUL 26 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... KING GEORGE COUNTY IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA * UNTIL 445 PM EDT * AT 413 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 11 MILES WEST OF DAHLGREN...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE... OVER DAHLGREN AT 428 PM IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 26, 2:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 2:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 255 PM EDT THU JUL 26 2001 SOLID BAND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG MD/PA BORDER AND INTO NW CORNER OF CWA... WITH KLWX RADAR SHOWING MORE SCATTERED CONVECTION DEVELOPING OUT AHEAD OF SURFACE COLD FRONT. 18Z ANALYSIS PLACES FRONT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE CWA AT TIME... AND 12Z ETA/AVN IN AGREEMENT THAT FRONT WILL CLEAR THE SOUTHERN ZONES SHORTLY AFTER 00Z TONIGHT. PLAN TO KEEP MENTION OF SHOWERS AND STORMS THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS... AND WILL MAKE NO CHANGES TO THE FFA IN PLACE. FFG VALUES ARE RATHER HIGH... AND WILL BE DIFFICULT TO GET THAT MUCH RAIN... BUT WE WILL SEE SOME PRETTY GOOD DOWNPOURS AND CANT JUSTIFY BRINGING IT DOWN. MODELS INSISTENT ON BRINGING CLEARING THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. KIND OF A TOUGH CALL WITH NORTHEAST FLOW AND POSSIBILITY THAT SOME MARINE AIR COULD FILTER IN... BUT ETA/AVN RH FIELDS ARE VERY DRY. PLAN TO GO A LITTLE MORE OPTIMISTIC WITH THIS FORECAST AS FAR AS CLOUDS GO. STILL LOOKING LIKE FRONT WILL BACK UP NORTH AS A WARM FRONT SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY... WITH AVN MODEL SHOWING A SURFACE WAVE ALONG THE FRONT ON MONDAY. ONLY CHANGE OVER THE WEEKEND WAS TO ADD AN AFTERNOON POP TO THE SOUTHWEST WHERE WARM ADVECTION BEGINS A LITTLE EARLIER THAN ELSEWHERE IN THE CWA. WILL KEEP TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY DRY AS MRF AND CANADIAN HAVE A WEAK HIGH BUILDING OVER THE AREA. DCA 66 79 62 79 / 80 0 0 10 BWI 61 78 58 79 / 80 0 0 10 MRB 59 78 53 79 / 80 0 0 10 IAD 61 79 55 80 / 80 0 0 10 CHO 62 79 61 80 / 80 0 10 30 HGR 59 77 54 78 / 80 0 0 10 NHK 66 78 63 78 / 80 0 0 10 W99 60 78 56 80 / 80 0 0 10 .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR ZONES MDZ002>003. VA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THIS AFTERNOON ANAD EVENING FOR ZONES VAZ021...VAZ025>031...VAZ036>039. WV...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR ZONES WVZ048>055. MARGRAF!
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 26, 4:00 PM EDT, 16 minutes before
MDZ016>018-VAZ041-050>052-055>057-262000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON 400 PM EDT THU JUL 26 2001 AT 4:00 PM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF SCATTERED HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND SOUTHERN MARYLAND. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF BETWEEN ONE TO UPWARDS OF THREE INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FROM SOME OF THESE STORMS THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE STORMS ARE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 MPH. AT 4:00 PM THE HEAVIEST STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG THE INTERSTATE 95 CORRIDOR FROM FREDERICKSBURG NORTHWARD TO ALEXANDRIA. OTHER STRONG STORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINS WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTHEASTERN CHARLES...WESTERN ST. MARYS AND CENTRAL CALVERT COUNTIES IN MARYLAND. SOME PONDING OF WATER IN LOW LYING AREAS AND OVER ROADWAYS IS LIKELY IN THE HEAVIEST STORMS. MOTORISTS SHOULD USE CAUTION AS VISIBILITY WILL BE SHARPLY REDUCED IN HEAVY RAINFALL...AND SOME PONDING OF WAYTER ON ROADWAYS MAY MAKE SOME ROADS TEMPORARILY IMPASSABLE. DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS. SMZ
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes in 2001
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.