Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 207

May 2, 200251 counties in Virginia; 10 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 2, 2002, 12:30 PM EDT for 51 counties in Virginia; 10 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2002, 12:30 PM EDT (16:30 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2002, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 61 counties

Albemarle County, VA, Alleghany County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Augusta County, VA, Bath County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Carroll County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Harrisonburg, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, Craig County, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Greene County, VA, Henry County, VA, Highland County, VA, Madison County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Nelson County, VA, Orange County, VA, Page County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Rappahannock County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Rockingham County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Fayette County, WV, Greenbrier County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pendleton County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Raleigh County, WV, Summers County, WV, Webster County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:32 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.

Warnings issued inside it

21 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 1:12 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Mercer	3 hr
May 2, 1:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Tazewell	23 min
May 2, 1:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery	37 min
May 2, 2:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Albemarle, Nelson	36 min
May 2, 2:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	33 min
May 2, 2:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bedford, Pittsylvania	29 min
May 2, 2:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Tazewell	39 min
May 2, 2:55 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Tazewell	3 hr
May 2, 3:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bland, City of Radford	25 min
May 2, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Wythe	17 min
May 2, 3:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pulaski, City of Radford	27 min
May 2, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Floyd	31 min
May 2, 4:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery	26 min
May 2, 4:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Tazewell	41 min
May 2, 4:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bedford, Franklin	24 min
May 2, 4:28 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Mercer	3 hr
May 2, 4:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	25 min
May 2, 4:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bland	40 min
May 2, 4:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Franklin, Henry	15 min
May 2, 4:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Giles	27 min
May 2, 4:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania, City of Danville	40 min

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 80 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: 317 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 382 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 418 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 9:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth and 5 more	4 hr
May 1, 11:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Grayson	4 hr
May 2, 9:45 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Wise and 2 more	4 hr
May 2, 1:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth and 5 more	7 hr
May 2, 2:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick and 16 more	7 hr
May 2, 2:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Accomack, Amelia, Brunswick, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield and 50 more	6 hr
May 2, 4:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Mecklenburg	5 hr
May 2, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Appomattox, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Campbell, Carroll and 21 more	6 hr
May 2, 5:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Appomattox, Bedford, Bland, Botetourt, Campbell, Carroll and 21 more	5 hr
May 2, 4:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barbour, Brooke, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Marshall and 11 more	4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Virginia, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in West Virginia, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.