Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 101, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 31, 2003Alamance County, Chatham County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 2003, 5:34 PM EDT for Alamance County, Chatham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 41 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 31, 2003, 5:34 PM EDT (21:34 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2003, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Alamance County, NC, Chatham County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:37 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 31, 2:05 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 53 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: 1484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 166 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.

589 
WUUS52 KRAH 312134
SVRRAH
NCC001-037-312215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
534 PM EDT SAT MAY 31 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN CHATHAM COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
  SOUTHERN ALAMANCE COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

* AT 534 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF SNOW CAMP...OR ABOUT 11
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF BURLINGTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. QUARTER
  SIZED HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE LIKELY WITH THIS
  STORM.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  SNOW CAMP AROUND 545 PM
  SUTPHIN AND SAXAPAHAW AROUND 550 PM
  BYNUM AROUND 610 PM
  FEARRINGTON AROUND 615 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE
FOR DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE
WARNING. PREPARE TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IN A STURDY STRUCTURE
SUCH AS A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM IF A TORNADO IS SPOTTED.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT SATURDAY EVENING 
FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA. 

LAT...LON 3603 7954 3582 7956 3564 7914 3583 7905

$$

DGS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 12:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett, Moore	34 min
May 31, 1:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Lee	21 min
May 31, 1:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson	50 min
May 31, 2:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	34 min
May 31, 3:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Scotland	14 min
May 31, 4:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson	53 min
May 31, 4:32 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Anson	43 min
May 31, 5:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Guilford	27 min
May 31, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham	39 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 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.