Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 212

May 2, 20034 counties in Georgia; 28 counties in North Carolina; 23 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 2, 2003, 4:40 PM EDT for 4 counties in Georgia; 28 counties in North Carolina; 23 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2003, 4:40 PM EDT (20:40 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2003, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 55 counties

Columbia County, GA, Glascock County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Alamance County, NC, Anson County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Orange County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Union County, NC, Wake County, NC, Aiken County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Chester County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Florence County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:41 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.

Warnings issued inside it

30 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	73 min
May 2, 5:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Chester	75 min
May 2, 5:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell, Mecklenburg	71 min
May 2, 5:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lancaster	39 min
May 2, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cabarrus, Rowan, Union	53 min
May 2, 5:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Chesterfield	39 min
May 2, 5:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Davie	67 min
May 2, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth	44 min
May 2, 5:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Stanly	22 min
May 2, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield, McCormick	49 min
May 2, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lancaster	42 min
May 2, 6:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Chesterfield, Kershaw	54 min
May 2, 6:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington	53 min
May 2, 6:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson, Montgomery, Richmond	34 min
May 2, 6:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth	43 min
May 2, 6:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson	26 min
May 2, 6:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Forsyth	36 min
May 2, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Guilford, Randolph	50 min
May 2, 6:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Moore, Scotland	47 min
May 2, 7:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Richmond	15 min
May 2, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Dillon, Florence, Marion	53 min
May 2, 7:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	62 min
May 2, 7:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke	30 min
May 2, 7:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	37 min
May 2, 7:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett, Lee	32 min
May 2, 8:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	McDuffie	45 min
May 2, 8:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Glascock	41 min
May 2, 8:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Columbia, Richmond	46 min
May 2, 8:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FFC	Glascock, Jefferson, Washington	46 min
May 2, 9:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Barnwell	50 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 179 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: 41 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 616 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 2:23 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Rabun	2 hr
May 2, 2:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Banks, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Rabun and 1 more	5 hr
May 2, 2:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clayton and 23 more	5 hr
May 2, 4:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Clay, Quitman, Troup	4 hr
May 2, 5:43 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Chattahoochee and 36 more	92 min
May 2, 5:57 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay	93 min
May 2, 6:05 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Heard	5 hr
May 2, 6:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts and 58 more	6 hr
May 2, 6:36 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clayton and 23 more	84 min
May 2, 7:17 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Columbia, Glascock, Richmond	88 min
May 2, 4:22 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland and 23 more	113 min
May 2, 7:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, Duplin and 11 more	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Georgia, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.