Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 894

August 26, 20035 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Aug 26, 2003, 2:55 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 26, 2003, 2:55 PM EDT (18:55 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2003, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 58 counties

Kent County, DE, New Castle County, DE, Sussex County, DE, Anne Arundel County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Calvert County, MD, Caroline County, MD, Carroll County, MD, Cecil County, MD, Charles County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Dorchester County, MD, Frederick County, MD, Harford County, MD, Howard County, MD, Kent County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Queen Anne's County, MD, Talbot County, MD, Cape May County, NJ, Cumberland County, NJ, Gloucester County, NJ, Salem County, NJ, Arlington County, VA, Augusta County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Harrisonburg, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Winchester, VA, Clarke County, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Frederick County, VA, Greene 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, Rockingham County, VA, Shenandoah County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Warren County, VA, Berkeley County, WV, Grant County, WV, Hampshire County, WV, Hardy County, WV, Jefferson County, WV, Pendleton County, WV

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 8 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:55 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 3:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Berkeley	58 min
Aug 26, 3:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Jefferson	54 min
Aug 26, 3:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Carroll, Frederick	79 min
Aug 26, 3:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick, Washington	32 min
Aug 26, 4:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Loudoun	66 min
Aug 26, 4:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Baltimore, City of Baltimore	73 min
Aug 26, 4:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Howard, Montgomery	70 min
Aug 26, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Fairfax, City of Fairfax	72 min
Aug 26, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Prince George's	97 min
Aug 26, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel	73 min
Aug 26, 4:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent, Queen Anne's	51 min
Aug 26, 4:58 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	LWX	Arlington, City of Alexandria, City of Falls Church	3 hr
Aug 26, 5:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Talbot	52 min
Aug 26, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Calvert	61 min
Aug 26, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Dorchester	41 min
Aug 26, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Caroline	45 min
Aug 26, 5:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Charles	62 min
Aug 26, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Kent, Sussex	74 min
Aug 26, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Calvert	60 min
Aug 26, 6:31 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Charles	29 min
Aug 26, 6:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	King George	30 min
Aug 26, 7:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Charles	45 min
Aug 26, 7:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	King George	45 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, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 16 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: 247 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -159 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1213 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 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
Aug 26, 4:45 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Sussex	90 min
Aug 26, 5:48 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Sussex	57 min
Aug 26, 11:08 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Garrett, Washington	2 hr
Aug 26, 1:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allegany, Carroll, Garrett, Washington	5 hr
Aug 26, 2:19 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allegany, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Garrett and 5 more	116 min
Aug 26, 12:27 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brooke, Hancock	63 min
Aug 26, 3:46 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brooke, Doddridge, Hancock, Harrison, Marion, Marshall and 8 more	119 min
Aug 26, 4:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio	6 hr
Aug 26, 7:55 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brooke, Hancock, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio and 1 more	65 min

Nearby

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