Alert archive / West Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 313

March 20, 20039 counties in Kentucky; 17 counties in Ohio; 25 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 20, 2003, 6:43 PM EST for 9 counties in Kentucky; 17 counties in Ohio; 25 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 20, 2003, 6:43 PM EST (23:43 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 2003, 8:45 PM EST
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 51 counties

Boyd County, KY, Carter County, KY, Elliott County, KY, Floyd County, KY, Greenup County, KY, Johnson County, KY, Lawrence County, KY, Martin County, KY, Pike County, KY, Athens County, OH, Fairfield County, OH, Gallia County, OH, Hocking County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Lawrence County, OH, Meigs County, OH, Monroe County, OH, Morgan County, OH, Muskingum County, OH, Noble County, OH, Perry County, OH, Pike County, OH, Ross County, OH, Scioto County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Washington County, OH, Boone County, WV, Braxton County, WV, Cabell County, WV, Calhoun County, WV, Clay County, WV, Doddridge County, WV, Fayette County, WV, Gilmer County, WV, Jackson County, WV, Kanawha County, WV, Lincoln County, WV, Logan County, WV, Mason County, WV, Mingo County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pleasants County, WV, Putnam County, WV, Raleigh County, WV, Ritchie County, WV, Roane County, WV, Tyler County, WV, Wayne County, WV, Wirt County, WV, Wood County, WV, Wyoming County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:47 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

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 178 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1227 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -21 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.

370 
ACUS11 KWNS 202343
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 202343 
WVZ000-OHZ000-VAZ000-KYZ000-210145-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0313
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0543 PM CST THU MAR 20 2003

AREAS AFFECTED...ERN KY/WRN WV/SRN OH

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL 

VALID 202343Z - 210145Z

CONVECTIVE LINE WILL MOVE INTO SRN OH AND WV OVER THE NEXT FEW
HOURS. ACTIVITY SHOULD REMAIN MOSTLY BELOW SEVERE LIMITS AND WW
IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.



IR SATELLITE IMAGERY CLEARLY SHOWED A SHORT-WAVE TROUGH MOVING
INTO WESTERN KENTUCKY. LARGE-SCALE LIFT AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE WAS
HELPING THUNDERSTORMS TO PERSIST AND MOVE EWD ACROSS FAR NERN
KY/WV/OH. ALTHOUGH INSTABILITY WAS MARGINAL...DEEP LAYER SHEAR
WAS SUFFICIENT FOR A FEW MARGINALLY SEVERE MULTICELLS WITH BRIEF
BOWING STRUCTURES. IF STORMS CAN ORGANIZE COLD POOLS AS THEY MOVE
PARALLEL TO THE UPPER-FLOW...ISOLATED WIND DAMAGE WILL BE
POSSIBLE. ALSO...COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL RESULT IN A THREAT
FOR HAIL. AREA WILL BE MONITORED BUT A WW DOES NOT APPEAR LIKELY
AT THIS TIME. 



..BROYLES.. 03/20/2003

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...RNK...PBZ...RLX...JKL...ILN...

37878324 38318335 39548324 39998242 39968108 39398060
38808051 37938066 37438165 37418255 37878324

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 19, 8:16 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bath, Bourbon, Bracken, Carter, Clark, Elliott and 20 more	89 min
Mar 20, 1:23 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Boyle, Breckinridge and 58 more	3 hr
Mar 20, 1:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allen, Ballard, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian and 20 more	6 hr
Mar 20, 2:05 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Boone, Campbell, Kenton	6 hr
Mar 20, 2:20 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adair, Anderson, Barren, Bell, Bourbon, Boyle and 48 more	6 hr
Mar 20, 3:41 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Boone, Bourbon and 62 more	2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in West Virginia, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Ohio, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Kentucky, 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.