Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003
Mesoscale Discussion 873
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 9, 2003, 3:53 AM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 97 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 9, 2003, 3:53 AM EDT (07:53 UTC)
- Expired
- May 9, 2003, 5:30 AM EDT
- In force
- 97 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 63 counties
Franklin County, GA, Habersham County, GA, Hart County, GA, Rabun County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Towns County, GA, Alexander County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Clay County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Macon County, NC, Madison County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC, Carter County, TN, Cocke County, TN, Greene County, TN, Hamblen County, TN, Hancock County, TN, Hawkins County, TN, Jefferson County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Sevier County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Washington County, TN
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:53 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
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 238 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 63 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -110 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2457 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 39 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 109 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
843 ACUS11 KWNS 090754 SWOMCD SPC MCD 090753 SCZ000-NCZ000-TNZ000-GAZ000-090930- MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0873 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 0253 AM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003 AREAS AFFECTED...NERN TN/WRN NC/NWRN SC CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL VALID 090753Z - 090930Z TSTM COMPLEX OVER FAR NERN TN WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A LARGE HAIL/DAMAGING WIND THREAT FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS IS MOVES SEWD AT AROUND 30KTS. STRONG STORM /PERIODICALLY EXHIBITING SUPERCELL CHARACTERISTICS/ EMBEDDED IN SMALL CONVECTIVE COMPLEX OVER CARTER COUNTY IN FAR NERN TN HAS RECENTLY PRODUCED A 66MPH WIND GUST AT THE TRI-CITIES REGIONAL AIRPORT. IT APPEARS THAT FORCING FOR LARGE-SCALE ASCENT AHEAD OF WEAK SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER ERN KY IN CONJUNCTION WITH LOW-LEVEL WAA ON NOSE OF SWLY LLJ JET IS SUSTAINING THIS ACTIVITY AS IT MOVES SEWD. LATEST MESOANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THIS CONVECTION HAS JUST MOVED S OF SURFACE STATIONARY FRONT WHICH EXTENDS FROM ROUGHLY ALONG THE VA/NC STATE LINE NWWD INTO ERN KY NEAR JKL. GIVEN THE STORM MOTION RELATIVELY TO THE LLJ ORIENTATION...STORM-RELATIVE INFLOW REMAINS QUITE STRONG /35-45KTS/ WHICH SHOULD CONTINUE TO SUSTAIN THE TSTMS AS THEY MOVE INTO WRN NC. RUC POINT FORECAST SOUNDINGS S OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS WRN NC INTO NWRN SC INDICATE A SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH MLCAPES OF 500-1000 J/KG. THEREFORE...IT APPEARS THAT THE THREAT OF ISOLATED WIND DAMAGE/LARGE HAIL WILL PERSIST FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS. A WW IS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE AREA. ..MEAD.. 05/09/2003 ...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT... ATTN...WFO...RAH...RNK...CAE...GSP...MRX...FFC... 35408371 36048360 36508342 36588272 36558185 36258075 35598047 34658051 34138106 33978213 34458350 34798384
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 9, 3:55 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Bertie, Camden, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan and 30 more | 2 hr |
| May 9, 4:15 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Durham, Edgecombe and 16 more | 6 hr |
| May 9, 6:53 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Chowan, Craven, Dare, Durham and 21 more | 97 min |
| May 9, 7:20 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Hyde and 7 more | 4 hr |
| May 9, 7:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Pickett | 5 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2003Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2003Mesoscale Discussions in Tennessee, 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.