Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 22

February 22, 200325 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 22, 2003, 12:55 PM EST for 25 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 22, 2003, 12:55 PM EST (17:55 UTC)
Expired: Feb 22, 2003, 4:00 PM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Brunswick County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Poquoson, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, Northampton County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, York County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 19 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:59 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 22, 1:49 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Southampton, Sussex	31 min
Feb 22, 2:14 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Southampton, City of Franklin, City of Suffolk	31 min
Feb 22, 2:42 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	City of Chesapeake, City of Hampton, City of Norfolk, City of Poquoson, City of Portsmouth, City of Virginia Beach	28 min
Feb 22, 3:07 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Virginia Beach	33 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

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 478 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 221751
SEL2
SPC WW 221755
VAZ000-CWZ000-222100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 22
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1255 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA                           
   COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON FROM 1255 PM UNTIL 400 PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO
80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF NORFOLK VIRGINIA TO 45
MILES NORTHWEST OF NORFOLK VIRGINIA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 19...WW 20...WW 21...

DISCUSSION...INTENSE ROTATING BOW ECHO N OF RDU MOVING VERY RAPIDLY
ENEWD ALONG STRONG WARM FRONT.  GIVEN VERY STRONG WIND PROFILES 
DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE LIKELY WITH THIS FEATURE
AS IT TRACK ACROSS SERN VA BY 21Z.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH...EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24050.


...HALES

372,0754 363,0760 363,0781 372,0775

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 22, 11:47 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Accomack, Brunswick, Charles City, Gloucester, Greensville, Isle of Wight and 25 more	88 min
Feb 22, 2:22 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Accomack, Isle of Wight, Mathews, Northampton, York, City of Franklin and 6 more	53 min
Feb 22, 3:31 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Wise and 2 more	119 min
Feb 22, 4:35 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Wise and 1 more	4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2003 Every tornado 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.