Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 2279

August 27, 2003Charles County, Maryland; 54 counties in Virginia; 4 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Aug 27, 2003, 12:22 AM EDT for Charles County, Maryland; 54 counties in Virginia; 4 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 53 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 27, 2003, 12:22 AM EDT (04:22 UTC)
Expired: Aug 27, 2003, 1:15 AM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 59 counties

Charles County, MD, Albemarle County, VA, Amelia County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Augusta County, VA, Bath County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Harrisonburg, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Greene County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Highland County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King George County, VA, King William County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Madison County, VA, Nelson County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Orange County, VA, Page County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Rappahannock County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Rockingham County, VA, Shenandoah County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Warren County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA, Hardy County, WV, Pendleton County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Randolph County, WV

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:26 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 00:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 110 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: 941 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -139 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1163 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 389 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

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
Aug 26, 9:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allegany, Garrett	6 hr
Aug 26, 10:18 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Garrett	57 min
Aug 27, 6:11 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Garrett, Washington	2 hr
Aug 27, 9:23 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll and 17 more	2 hr
Aug 27, 9:40 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Harford	5 hr
Aug 27, 10:35 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 8 more	5 hr
Aug 27, 2:10 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 8 more	65 min
Aug 27, 3:09 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Frederick and 7 more	66 min
Aug 27, 3:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 9 more	7 hr
Aug 27, 5:03 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles and 10 more	87 min
Aug 27, 6:56 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil and 15 more	64 min
Aug 27, 7:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset and 3 more	4 hr
Aug 27, 12:52 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge and 16 more	113 min
Aug 27, 2:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barbour, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay and 23 more	5 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in West Virginia, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Maryland, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.