Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Wakefield, VA

May 9, 2003Southampton County, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 2003, 4:42 PM EDT for Southampton County, Virginia. It was in force for 38 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 9, 2003, 4:42 PM EDT (20:42 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 2003, 5:20 PM EDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Southampton County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:44 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 9, 4:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 208 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: 59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -186 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 982 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 199 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.

014 
WUUS51 KAKQ 092042
SVRAKQ
VAC175-092120-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
442 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 520 PM EDT

* AT 442 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES NORTH OF GREEN PLAIN...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 50 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL REACH...
  DREWRYVILLE AND ADAMS GROVE AROUND 445 PM,
  LITTLE TEXAS AND CAPRON AROUND 450 PM,
  BOYKINS AND SHILOH AROUND 455 PM,

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
  DAMAGING HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLFBALLS.
  DAMAGING WINDS GREATER THAN 60 MILES AN HOUR.
  VERY FREQUENT AND DEADLY CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. SEVERE 
THUNDERSTORMS OCCASIONALLY PRODUCE TORNADOES...AND CAN DO SO RATHER 
QUICKLY. MOVE INTO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME 
OR BUSINESS.

LAT...LON 3656 7732 3669 7745 3678 7726 3656 7701
$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 2:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Fluvanna	25 min
May 9, 2:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Cumberland	32 min
May 9, 3:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Amelia, Powhatan	31 min
May 9, 3:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Amelia, Dinwiddie	38 min
May 9, 3:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Chesterfield	31 min
May 9, 3:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Nottoway	18 min
May 9, 4:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Dinwiddie, Greensville, Sussex	38 min
May 9, 4:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Nottoway	40 min
May 9, 4:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Southampton	24 min
May 9, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Mecklenburg	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.