Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 221

May 3, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 3, 2003, 3:20 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 3, 2003, 3:20 PM EDT (19:20 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 2003, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 58 counties

Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Anson County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Polk County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Union County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC, Carter County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Carroll County, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, Grayson County, VA, Henry County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Wythe County, VA

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:22 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 3:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Ashe	23 min
May 3, 4:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Henderson	38 min
May 3, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Polk	51 min
May 3, 4:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Davie	46 min
May 3, 4:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Alexander	45 min
May 3, 4:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Forsyth	24 min
May 3, 4:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Wilkes	36 min
May 3, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Henderson	49 min
May 3, 5:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson	40 min
May 3, 5:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	58 min
May 3, 5:21 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson	24 min
May 3, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee, Pickens	66 min
May 3, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Alexander	49 min
May 3, 5:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson	16 min
May 3, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	45 min
May 3, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	44 min
May 3, 5:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	38 min
May 3, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson	14 min
May 3, 6:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba	53 min
May 3, 6:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson	30 min
May 3, 6:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Stanly	25 min
May 3, 6:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Montgomery	49 min
May 3, 6:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	47 min
May 3, 6:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Rowan	60 min
May 3, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson, Pickens	54 min
May 3, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	67 min
May 3, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Stanly	23 min
May 3, 6:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba	46 min
May 3, 7:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Montgomery	45 min
May 3, 7:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cabarrus	57 min
May 3, 7:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Stanly	41 min
May 3, 7:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	48 min
May 3, 7:53 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Catawba, Iredell	2 hr
May 3, 7:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson	49 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 157 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1075 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 2:57 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Anson, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 35 more	3 hr
May 3, 6:15 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell and 34 more	2 hr
May 3, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Hoke, Mecklenburg, Montgomery and 7 more	4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Virginia, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 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.