Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Baltimore/Washington
NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at Sep 20, 2001, 7:29 PM EDT for Culpeper County, Virginia. It was in force for 16 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
- Sep 20, 2001, 7:29 PM EDT (23:29 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 20, 2001, 7:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 16 min
- Issued by
- NWS Baltimore/Washington
- Area
- Whole counties
County Culpeper County, VA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:31 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, 11.5 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 76 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -41 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 611 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 407 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 432 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
967 WFUS51 KLWX 202330 TORLWX VAC047-202345- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON 729 PM EDT THU SEP 20 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CULPEPER COUNTY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA * UNTIL 745 PM EDT * AT 726 PM EDT...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS REPORTED A TORNADO OVER CULPEPER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE... NEAR ALANTHUS 735 PM NEAR LAKOTA AT 740 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. JA/BMW
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 Sep 20, 3:22 PM EDT, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 20, 3:22 PM EDT, 4 hours 7 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 322 PM EDT THU SEP 20 2001 LOW PRES IS LIFTING NE THIS AFTERNOON. THE WEAK COLD FRONT IS JUST WEST OF CWA AND WILL MOVE ACROSS LATER TONIGHT. MOST OF PCPN IS MOVING OFF TO THE NE WITH JUST SCATTERED STORMS WITH THE FRONT TO THE WEST. WILL KEEP SOME CHANCE POPS BEFORE MIDNIGHT. THEN DECREASING MID CLOUDS AND SOME FOG DEVELOPING. ZONAL FLOW OVER THE NEXT 12 HOURS WITH PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES. NEXT S/W WILL BRING US A CHANCE OF SHRA/TSTM FRI NIGHT. SAT AND SUN IMPROVING CONDITIONS WITH PTCLOUDY AND WARMING TEMPS TOWARDS 80 IN THE EAST AND MID 70S IN THE WEST. NEXT SYSTEM WILL BE SLOW MOVING AND WILL BEGIN TO MOVE IN MON AND HANG AROUND THROUGH TUESDAY WITH SHOWERS ACROSS THE AREA. IMPROVING CONDITIONS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. FCSTID = 17 DCA 63 80 63 80 / 40 20 30 10 BWI 60 78 61 79 / 40 20 30 10 MRB 57 76 59 78 / 30 20 30 10 IAD 60 78 61 79 / 40 20 30 10 CHO 60 78 61 79 / 40 20 30 10 HGR 57 76 59 78 / 30 20 30 10 NHK 63 80 63 80 / 40 20 30 10 W99 55 75 55 75 / 30 20 30 10 .LWX... DC...NONE. MD...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE.
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.