Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 315

May 18, 200221 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 18, 2002, 12:00 PM EDT for 21 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 18, 2002, 12:00 PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 2002, 4:00 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 25 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Florence County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:04 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

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 280 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2002-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3092 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2002-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 111 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
3092 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
576 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
154 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
8.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2002Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2002Every 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.