Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 305

March 20, 200316 counties in North Carolina; Horry County, South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 20, 2003, 10:40 AM EST for 16 counties in North Carolina; Horry County, South Carolina. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 20, 2003, 10:40 AM EST (15:40 UTC)
Expired
Mar 20, 2003, 12:45 PM EST
In force
2 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Beaufort County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Horry County, SC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:39 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 88 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2003-03-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 52 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2003-03-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 262 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
52 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
707 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
262 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
396 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.

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 20, 2:16 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBladen, Columbus, Pender119 min
Mar 20, 5:48 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBladen, Brunswick, Columbus117 min
Mar 20, 10:10 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCBeaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven and 10 more5 hr
Mar 20, 12:52 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Chowan, Craven, Jones and 7 more113 min
Mar 19, 7:04 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper116 min
Mar 19, 7:15 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCBeaufort, Jasper4 hr
Mar 19, 8:58 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chester and 19 more3 hr
Mar 20, 12:20 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAbbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chester and 19 more4 hr
Mar 20, 3:06 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllendale, Bamberg54 min
Mar 20, 3:40 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCAllendale, Bamberg, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more5 hr
Mar 20, 6:12 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllendale, Bamberg, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, Jasper2 hr
Mar 20, 8:40 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCBeaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more6 hr
Mar 20, 2:35 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCAllendale, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more6 hr
Mar 20, 4:21 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more114 min
Mar 20, 6:57 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton and 3 more2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2003Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2003Every 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.