Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 381

May 15, 200330 counties in North Carolina; 8 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 15, 2003, 4:10 PM EDT for 30 counties in North Carolina; 8 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 2003, 4:10 PM EDT (20:10 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 38 counties

Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba 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, Rutherford County, NC, Surry County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Carter County, TN, Cocke County, TN, Greene County, TN, Hamblen County, TN, Jefferson County, TN, Sevier County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Washington County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:12 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Avery	49 min
May 15, 4:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	McDowell	48 min
May 15, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Alexander, Caldwell, Iredell	42 min
May 15, 4:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke	53 min
May 15, 4:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe	63 min
May 15, 5:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba	53 min
May 15, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Alexander	45 min
May 15, 5:24 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Sevier	51 min
May 15, 5:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke	56 min
May 15, 5:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Henderson	47 min
May 15, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Rutherford	62 min
May 15, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba, Lincoln	65 min
May 15, 6:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sevier	33 min
May 15, 6:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Polk	61 min
May 15, 6:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Graham, Swain	79 min
May 15, 6:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	46 min
May 15, 7:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	49 min
May 15, 7:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sevier	47 min
May 15, 7:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	61 min
May 15, 7:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	29 min
May 15, 7:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Greene	40 min
May 15, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Macon	64 min
May 15, 7:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Madison	56 min
May 15, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	45 min
May 15, 8:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	45 min
May 15, 8:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Buncombe	43 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, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 240 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

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 12:08 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Caswell and 9 more	2 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

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Tennessee, 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.