Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Baltimore/Washington

July 10, 2003King George County, Virginia

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at Jul 10, 2003, 7:55 PM EDT for King George County, Virginia. It was in force for 65 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: Jul 10, 2003, 7:55 PM EDT (23:55 UTC)
Expired: Jul 10, 2003, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County King George County, VA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:55 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 74 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 458 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 36 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 102355
TORLWX
VAC099-110100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
754 PM EDT THU JUL 10 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  KING GEORGE COUNTY IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 900 PM EDT.

* AT 754 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO JUST  
  WEST OF THE KING GEORGE SPOTSYLVANIA LINE. THIS DANGEROUS STORM IS 
  MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

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

IF YOU ARE IN OR 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 3834 7733 3821 7737 3823 7700 3838 7705

$$
MANNING

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 10, 5:56 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Culpeper	64 min
Jul 10, 6:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Orange	65 min
Jul 10, 6:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania, City of Fredericksburg	61 min
Jul 10, 6:59 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Culpeper	61 min
Jul 10, 7:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Stafford	53 min
Jul 10, 7:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Spotsylvania, City of Fredericksburg	63 min
Jul 10, 7:28 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		2 hr
Jul 10, 7:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Fauquier	64 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.