Alert archive / Maryland / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Wakefield, VA

May 13, 2002Somerset County, Maryland

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at May 13, 2002, 4:57 PM EDT for Somerset County, Maryland. It was in force for 28 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: May 13, 2002, 4:57 PM EDT (20:57 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2002, 5:25 PM EDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Somerset County, MD

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 13, 1:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 43 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: 1109 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -92 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 862 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 159 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS51 KAKQ 132057
TORAKQ
MDC039-132125-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
457 PM EDT MON MAY 13 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOMERSET COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MARYLAND

* UNTIL 525 PM EDT

* AT 457 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES WEST OF
  RUMBLEY...MOVING EAST AT 65 MPH.

* THE STORM PRODUCING THE TORNADO WILL REACH...
  UPPER FAIRMOUNT AND FAIRMOUNT AROUND 500 PM
  MANOKIN AND WESTOVER AROUND 505 PM
  COKESBURY AND PRINCESS ANNE AROUND 510 PM

THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WHICH
WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE SAME AREA. GO TO A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

IF YOU ARE IN A MOBILE HOME...ABANDON IT AND GO TO A NEARBY STURDY
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD

$$

REILLY
&&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 4:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Somerset	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Maryland, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.