Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 301

May 8, 20035 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 8, 2003, 12:55 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2003, 12:55 PM EDT (16:55 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2003, 6:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 65 counties

Sussex County, DE, Allegany County, MD, Anne Arundel County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Calvert County, MD, Caroline County, MD, Carroll County, MD, Charles County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Dorchester County, MD, Frederick County, MD, Garrett County, MD, Howard County, MD, Kent County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Queen Anne's County, MD, Saint Mary's County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Talbot County, MD, Washington County, MD, Wicomico County, MD, Worcester County, MD, Adams County, PA, Bedford County, PA, Fayette County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Fulton County, PA, Greene County, PA, Somerset County, PA, Washington County, PA, Arlington County, VA, Caroline County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, City of Winchester, VA, Clarke County, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Frederick County, VA, King George County, VA, Loudoun County, VA, Madison County, VA, Orange County, VA, Page County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Rappahannock County, VA, Shenandoah County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Warren County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA, Berkeley County, WV, Grant County, WV, Hampshire County, WV, Hardy County, WV, Jefferson County, WV, Mineral County, WV, Morgan County, WV, Preston County, WV

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:59 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 1:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Fauquier	41 min
May 8, 1:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Prince William, City of Manassas, City of Manassas Park	46 min
May 8, 2:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Caroline	28 min
May 8, 3:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick	41 min
May 8, 4:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick, City of Winchester	51 min
May 8, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Clarke, Warren	52 min
May 8, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Fauquier	37 min
May 8, 5:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier	46 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 4.9 hours before the alert went out and 49 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: 203 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 820 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

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 8, 2:48 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Sussex	117 min
May 8, 4:46 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Charles, Garrett, Saint Mary's	59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Virginia, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Maryland, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Pennsylvania, 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.