Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 1168

May 31, 20035 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 31, 2003, 3:58 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 2003, 3:58 PM EDT (19:58 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2003, 6:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 91 counties

Kent County, DE, New Castle County, DE, Anne Arundel County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Calvert County, MD, Caroline County, MD, Carroll County, MD, Cecil County, MD, Charles County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Dorchester County, MD, Frederick County, MD, Harford County, MD, Howard County, MD, Kent County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Queen Anne's County, MD, Saint Mary's County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Talbot County, MD, Wicomico County, MD, Salem County, NJ, Adams County, PA, Chester County, PA, Delaware County, PA, Lancaster County, PA, York County, PA, Accomack County, VA, Albemarle County, VA, Amelia County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Arlington County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, James City County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King George County, VA, King William County, VA, Lancaster County, VA, Loudoun County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Madison County, VA, Mathews County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Middlesex County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Northumberland County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Orange County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA, York County, VA

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 94 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: 20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1330 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 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.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 1:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Kent, New Castle, Sussex	5 hr
May 31, 1:06 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Carroll, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Washington	114 min
May 31, 2:05 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Henry, City of Danville	6 hr
May 31, 2:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell and 40 more	6 hr
May 31, 6:37 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brunswick, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Henrico and 22 more	83 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Maryland, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Pennsylvania, 2003 Every mesoscale discussion 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.