Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Baltimore/Washington

March 29, 2003Stafford County, Virginia

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at Mar 29, 2003, 5:31 PM EST for Stafford County, Virginia. It was in force for 59 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: Mar 29, 2003, 5:31 PM EST (22:31 UTC)
Expired: Mar 29, 2003, 6:30 PM EST
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Stafford County, VA

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 55 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -71 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 529 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 278 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 284 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 
WFUS51 KLWX 292231
TORLWX
VAC179-292330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
531 PM EST SAT MAR 29 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  STAFFORD COUNTY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 630 PM EST.

* AT 531 PM EST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
  STRONG ROTATION 11 MILES SOUTHWEST OF STAFFORD...MOVING EAST AT    
  20 MPH. THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.  
  THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING FUNNEL CLOUDS.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...STAFFORD.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER NOW IF NO
UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR MORE
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

DO NOT TAKE SHELTER UNDER HIGHWAY OVERPASSES

LAT...LON 3855 7754 3834 7762 3832 7734 3851 7731

$$
MANNING

The office that day

Everything else NWS Baltimore/Washington issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 29, 2:15 PM EST	Special Marine Warning	LWX		45 min
Mar 29, 4:33 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Orange	42 min
Mar 29, 4:50 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier	40 min
Mar 29, 5:07 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania, City of Fredericksburg	53 min
Mar 29, 5:17 PM EST	Tornado Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania	43 min
Mar 29, 5:26 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Stafford	49 min
Mar 29, 5:42 PM EST	Special Marine Warning	LWX		63 min
Mar 29, 5:56 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania, City of Fredericksburg	64 min
Mar 29, 6:48 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	King George	57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.