Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 55, NWS Wakefield, VA

May 7, 2002Mathews County, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 7, 2002, 7:00 PM EDT for Mathews County, Virginia. It was in force for 30 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 7, 2002, 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2002, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Mathews County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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 was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 7, 7:10 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Mathews, VA	Trees down across county, and damage to a house in Mathews.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 96 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 893 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 262 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 260 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WUUS51 KAKQ 072300
SVRAKQ
VAC115-072330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
700 PM EDT TUE MAY 7 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MATHEWS COUNTY IN EASTERN VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT

* AT 700 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTH OF FORT NONSENSE...MOVING EAST AT
  45 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL REACH
  PORT HAYWOOD AND RUFF AROUND 705 PM
  LABAN AND PEARY AROUND 710 PM

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
  HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF DIMES.
  DAMAGING WINDS GREATER THAN 60 MILES AN HOUR.



$$

NS
&&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wakefield, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 7, 2:35 PM EDT, 4 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:35 PM EDT, 4 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD, VA
235 PM EDT TUE MAY 7 2002

LATEST VISIBLE IMAGERY SHOWS SUNNY CONDITIONS OVER SE VA...WITH
MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS OVER NRN AND WRN SECTIONS. A FEW SHOWERS
MADE THEIR WAY ACRS NRN PORTIONS OF CWA TODAY...BUT LITTLE ELSE HAS
DEVELOPED...AS WESTERLY WINDS AND ASSOC DOWNSLOPE HAVE HELPED
INHIBIT THIS. LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWING WEAK COLD FRONT DROPPING S
THROUGH OHIO AND INDIANA. AS HIGH MOVES FROM GRTLKS TO NEW
ENGLAND...THIS FRONT IS PROGGED TO BACK DOOR ACROSS THE REGION
OVERNIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...DROPPING TEMPS FOR TOMORROW...AND POSSIBLY
FOCUSING SOME SHOWER AND TSTM ACTIVITY TONIGHT. MODELS HAVE THIS
REPRESENTED...AIDED BY WEAK LOW ALONG FRONT AS IT DROPS THROUGH THE
AREA. THE INSTABILITY APPEARS SUFFICIENT FOR TSTMS IF WE GET
ANYTHING GOING THIS EVENING. OVERNIGHT...WILL GO WITH JUST CHC OF
SHOWERS NE NC COUNTIES WITH FROPA.

AVN HAS BEEN THE MOST CONSISTENT WITH THE BACK DOOR FEATURE...AND
OTHER MODELS HAVE FALLEN MORE IN LINE WITH AVN SOLN...SUCH THAT THE
FRONT STALLS OUT S AND W OF CWA ON WED...THEN TRIES TO RETURN AS A
WARM FRONT WED NIGHT. THIS MEANS LOWER TEMPS...AND STABLE AMS FOR
WED. OVERRUNNING SHOWERS POSSIBLE WED AFTN AND NIGHT...AT LEAST OVER
WRN ZONES...BUT GO WITH DRY FCAST FOR NE ZONES. THU...AREA BREAKS
INTO WARM SECTOR...BUT PRERONTAL TROF STILL WARRANTS CHC OF AFTN
TSTMS OVER WRN SECTIONS. FRONT SWEEPS FROM NW TO SE THU NIGHT AND
FRI MORNING...WITH SHOWERS LINGERING FRI SRN ZONES. FINALLY...A RAIN
FREE DAY SATURDAY AS HIGH BUILDS IN. WILL KEEP PRECIP CHCS SUN AND
MON WITH WAA THEN NEXT COLD FROPA...FOLLOWED BY DRY DAY TUE.

MARINE...NO FLAGS...ALTHOUGH SEAS COULD PUSH 5 FT ON WED...WITH ELY
SURGE.

FCSTID = 18

.AKQ...
MD...NONE.
NC...NONE.
VA...NONE.

REILLY

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 7, 5:28 PM EDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before

VAZ063-070-071-072345-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
528 PM EDT TUE MAY 7 2002

AT 525 PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A CLUSTER OF
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS CUMBERLAND...AMELIA...GOOCHLAND AND WESTERN
CHESTERFIELD COUNTIES. THESE STORMS ARE MOVING EAST AROUND 30 MPH
AND WILL MOVE ACROSS THE RICHMOND METRO AREA BETWEEN 545 AND 645 PM.
WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND SMALL HAIL
ARE POSSIBLE AS THESE STORMS MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. ALSO...RAINFALL
AMOUNTS OF UP TO AN INCH PER HOUR WILL LIKE RESULT IN PONDING OF
WATER ON ROADWAYS AS WELL AS MINOR FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AND POOR
DRAINAGE AREAS. MOTORISTS SHOULD USE CAUTION AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO
REACH YOUR DESTINATIONS.

RUSNAK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 5:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Charles City, Chesterfield, Henrico	15 min
May 7, 6:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Charles City	19 min
May 7, 6:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	James City, York, City of Williamsburg	30 min
May 7, 6:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Gloucester	18 min
May 7, 7:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Surry	32 min
May 7, 7:10 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	AKQ		50 min
May 7, 7:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Dinwiddie, Prince George	19 min
May 7, 7:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Sussex	32 min
May 7, 7:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Northampton	31 min
May 7, 7:52 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	AKQ		38 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.