Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 174, NWS Blacksburg, VA

July 13, 2003Floyd County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 13, 2003, 8:29 PM EDT for Floyd County, Virginia. It was in force for 46 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 13, 2003, 8:29 PM EDT (00:29 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 2003, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Floyd County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 10 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:31 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 79 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: 973 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 142 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 9.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WUUS51 KRNK 140029
SVRRNK
VAC063-140115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
828 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  FLOYD COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT.

* AT 826 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF FLOYD...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 15 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED THROUGH 915 PM EDT INCLUDE
  FLOYD...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING UP TO NICKEL SIZE
HAIL.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WINDS UP TO 70 MILES
AN HOUR.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE
FOR DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

RELAY SEVERE WEATHER REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY
CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

LAT...LON 3699 8054 3705 8031 3701 8025 3693 8017
          3689 8019 3688 8023 3679 8038

$$

10

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 13, 3:05 PM EDT, 5 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 3:05 PM EDT, 5 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA
305 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

KFCX 88D AT 1837Z SHOWED SCT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS
AFTERNOON. THE MODIFIED AM SOUNDINGS SHOWED LIS FROM MINUS 5 TO
MINUS 8 WITH CAPES 1500 TO 3000. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS NEXT
KENTUCKY SHORTWAVE ROUNDING THE MIDLEVEL TROUGH. AS SHORT APPROACHES
A RETURN FLOW SHOULD ADVECT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE NORTHWARD. SHEAR
PROFILE AND COLD POOL ALOFT COULD CREATE STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS.
MAIN THREAT IS WIND AND HAIL. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINS.

THE GFS IS MORE AMPLIFIED...AND SLIGHTLY QUICKER...WITH THE TROF
LIFTING OUT OF THE EAST THAN THE NGM/ETA BY 48-60 HRS. THE UKMET IS
EVEN FASTER THAN THE GFS...WHILE THE CAN SUPPORTS THE GFS. LEANING
TOWARDS THE GFS FOR THE PACKAGE. FOR TONIGHT... I RAISED POPS TO
LIKELY ACROSS THE SOUTH AND TAPERED AS ONE HEADS NORTH. INCREASED
POPS ON MONDAY EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS. EXPECT PRECIP CHANCES TO
DIMINISH AS TROUGH AXIS AND SURFACE BOUNDARY PUSH OUT OF FA. RAISED
MAX TEMPS UP EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY.
IN THE EXTENDED PERIODS...WARMED TEMPS UP A FEW DEGREES IN GENERAL.
HELD ON TO DAILY AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONVECTION. ADDED SCT TRW-
FOR DAY 7/SUNDAY. ZONES WILL BE OUT BY 330 PM. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.

FCSTID =    7
PRELIM NUMBERS
ROA   62  80  64  85 /  50  40  20  20
LYH   62  80  64  85 /  50  40  20  20
DAN   65  83  66  88 /  60  40  30  30
BLF   58  78  60  83 /  30  20  20  20
LWB   57  76  59  80 /  30  20  20  20
BCB   58  78  60  83 /  30  20  20  20
TNB   59  77  61  80 /  60  30  20  20

.RNK...
NC...NONE.
VA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 13, 7:16 AM EDT, 13 hours 13 minutes before

NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-
WVZ042>045-141100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
716 AM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA...
WESTERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE CENTRAL
APPALACHIANS THIS AFTERNOON.  ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER IS
POSSIBLE...WITH A FEW STORMS EXPECTED TO CONTAIN LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS.

THE GREATEST THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE BETWEEN
2:00 PM AND 8:00 PM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

THERE IS THE THREAT OF SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS FOR MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.  SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT
EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED UNLESS THE THUNDERSTORMS
BECOME ORGANIZED.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 13, 7:54 PM EDT, 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
754 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0710 PM    2N BURNT CHIMNEY          VA   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/03   FRANKLIN                       TREES DOWN.

0730 PM    2N YANCEYVILLE            NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/03   CASWELL                        TREES DOWN.

Local storm report, Jul 13, 8:17 PM EDT, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
817 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0750 PM    RADFORD                   VA   0.75 IN HAIL
07/13/03   RADFORD                        PENNY SIZED HAIL.

0750 PM    RADFORD                   VA   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/03   RADFORD                        TREES DOWN ON POWER
                                          LINES.REPORTED BY THE
                                          POLICE DEPARTMENT.

Local storm report, Jul 13, 8:29 PM EDT, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
829 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0811 PM    KEELING                   VA   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/03   PITTSYLVANIA                   TREES DOWN ALONG HWY
                                          360.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 8:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery	28 min
Jul 13, 8:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania	50 min
Jul 13, 8:56 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Charlotte	3 hr
Jul 13, 9:01 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Montgomery	119 min
Jul 13, 10:11 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Franklin, Patrick	2 hr
Jul 13, 11:10 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Henry, City of Martinsville	3 hr

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.