Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 229, NWS Blacksburg, VA

August 17, 2003Buckingham County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 17, 2003, 4:18 PM EDT for Buckingham County, Virginia. It was in force for 42 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: Aug 17, 2003, 4:18 PM EDT (20:18 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 2003, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Buckingham County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 155 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:17 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 17, 2:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 402 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -158 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1036 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 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.

505 
WUUS51 KRNK 172018
SVRRNK
VAC029-172100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
417 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN BUCKINGHAM COUNTY IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 500 PM EDT.

* AT 415 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF WINGINA...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED THROUGH 500 PM EDT INCLUDE
  WINGINA...
  TOGA...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL UP TO THE SIZE 
OF QUARTERS...AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG
BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY
FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 3772 7870 3761 7882 3739 7859 3746 7852

$$

04

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 Aug 17, 3:55 PM EDT, 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 17, 3:55 PM EDT, 23 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA
355 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 2003

SVR TSTM WATCH 866 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM.
WEAK BNDY DROP SOUTH THIS EVENING WITH CREATE SCT CONVECTION AHEAD
OF IT IN THE UNSTABLE AIR. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE SEVERE EARLY
WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL.

SHORT TERM
TONIGHT...WEAK BNDRY TO SLIP SOUTH OF FA OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL ALLOW
SCTD CLDS AND SOME PATCHY FOG TO DEVELOP ARND SUNRISE. SOME EARLY AM
BKN CLDS ALONG/E BLU RDG OVER NRN FA..BUT SHUD QUICKLY BECOME SCTD.

MONDAY...AM FOG BURNS OFF WITH SCTD/BKN PM CU/SC. WITH BNDRY TO THE
SOUTH POPS WERE BUMPED INTO CHC CAT ACRS SRN TIER OF CWA. ALSO
LOWERED MAX TEMPS A TAD OVER EASTERN AND SRN AREAS TO MESH BETTER
MESH WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES.

FOR THE EXTENDED PERIODS GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE 06Z GFS SOLUTION.
RAISED LOW TEMPERATURES IN SOUTHSIDE A FEW DEGREES ON TUESDAY NIGHT.
ADJUSTED MAX TEMPS UP FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY PRIMARILY EAST OF THE
MOUNTAINS. TWEAKED TEMPERATURES DOWN FOR SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY
MORNING. EXPANDED POPS FURTHER NORTH  ON SATURDAY DURING THE
AFTERNOON. ON SUNDAY...ADDED A SLIGHT CHC OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORM FOR EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS. ZONES WILL BE OUT BY 4 PM.
HAVE A GOOD NIGHT.

FCSTID =    4/7
PRELIM NUMBERS
ROA   65  85  63  85 /  40  20  20  10
LYH   64  84  63  84 /  40  20  20  10
DAN   68  87  66  86 /  40  30  30  20
BLF   61  79  58  80 /  30  10  10  10
LWB   58  78  57  80 /  30  10  10  10
BCB   62  80  59  82 /  40  20  20  20
TNB   62  80  59  80 /  50  20  20  20

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

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 17, 5:46 AM EDT, 10 hours 32 minutes before

NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-
WVZ042>045-181100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
546 AM EDT SUN AUG 17 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TODAY

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS
EXTREME SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST
PORTIONS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

SEE PRODUCT WBCSPSRNK - SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - FOR MORE
INFORMATION.

THIS PRODUCT CAN BE VIEWED ON THE BLACKSBURG OFFICE INTERNET PAGE AT
WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/ER/RNK.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 17, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Appomattox	52 min
Aug 17, 5:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bedford	51 min
Aug 17, 5:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania, City of Danville	39 min
Aug 17, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bedford	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.