Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 994

May 15, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 15, 2003, 12:08 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 2003, 12:08 PM EDT (16:08 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 2:15 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 55 counties

Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Carter County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Alleghany County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Buchanan County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Carroll County, VA, City of Bristol, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Russell County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wythe County, VA, McDowell County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Summers County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 67 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:10 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 379May 15, 1:50 PM EDT

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 900 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 15 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 15, 4:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 24 more	6 hr
May 15, 6:06 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus and 26 more	84 min
May 15, 7:39 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buncombe, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood and 11 more	2 hr
May 14, 11:10 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dyer, Lake, Obion	2 hr
May 15, 7:52 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Campbell, Clay, Fentress, Henry, Macon, Montgomery and 6 more	2 hr
May 15, 1:22 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Clay, Fentress, Grainger and 15 more	53 min
May 15, 1:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Clay, Cumberland, Fentress and 13 more	5 hr
May 15, 3:20 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb and 23 more	85 min
May 15, 5:42 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Bradley, Cannon and 41 more	63 min
May 15, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Cannon, Cheatham and 36 more	6 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in West Virginia, 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.