Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 258
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2003, 6:15 PM EDT for 10 counties in Kentucky; 30 counties in Ohio; Mason County, West Virginia. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 2003, 6:15 PM EDT (22:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 2003, 11:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 41 counties
Bracken County, KY, Campbell County, KY, Grant County, KY, Greenup County, KY, Kenton County, KY, Lewis County, KY, Mason County, KY, Owen County, KY, Pendleton County, KY, Robertson County, KY, Adams County, OH, Athens County, OH, Brown County, OH, Champaign County, OH, Clark County, OH, Clermont County, OH, Clinton County, OH, Fairfield County, OH, Fayette County, OH, Franklin County, OH, Gallia County, OH, Greene County, OH, Guernsey County, OH, Highland County, OH, Hocking County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Lawrence County, OH, Licking County, OH, Madison County, OH, Meigs County, OH, Morgan County, OH, Muskingum County, OH, Noble County, OH, Perry County, OH, Pickaway County, OH, Pike County, OH, Ross County, OH, Scioto County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Warren County, OH, Mason County, WV
The radar
The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:18 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
2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 6:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILN | Owen | 31 min |
| May 5, 7:59 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILN | Owen | 2 hr |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 45 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 522 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 706 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 1070 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 052213
SEL8
SPC WW 052215
KYZ000-OHZ000-060300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 258
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
615 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EXTREME NORTHERN KENTUCKY
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST OHIO
EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY EVENING FROM 615 PM UNTIL 1100 PM EDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES NORTHWEST OF ZANESVILLE OHIO TO 60 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF CINCINNATI OHIO.
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 253...WW 255...WW 256...WW
257...
DISCUSSION...RAPID DESTABILIZATION IS SPREADING NEWD ACROSS THE OH
RIVER INTO S CENTRAL OH. VERTICAL SHEAR IS FAVORABLE FOR
SUPERCELLS...WHILE THE INCREASING MOISTURE/INSTABILITY MAY SUPPORT A
FEW TORNADOES WITH STORMS ACROSS SRN OH THIS EVENING.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25040.
...THOMPSON
401,0805 382,0821 382,0850 401,0834SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 8:34 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Fulton and 7 more | 116 min |
| May 4, 10:26 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden and 15 more | 2 hr |
| May 4, 11:40 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Crittenden, Daviess, Henderson, Hopkins, McLean, Ohio and 2 more | 5 hr |
| May 5, 12:37 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Boyle, Breckinridge and 38 more | 23 min |
| May 5, 12:45 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bourbon, Boyle and 44 more | 5 hr |
| May 5, 2:20 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Fulton and 7 more | 6 hr |
| May 5, 2:30 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Crittenden, Daviess, Henderson, Hopkins, McLean, Ohio and 2 more | 90 min |
| May 5, 3:31 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bourbon and 55 more | 89 min |
| May 5, 4:41 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden and 13 more | 34 min |
| May 5, 4:50 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden and 16 more | 6 hr |
| May 5, 5:18 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allen, Ballard, Barren, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway and 19 more | 57 min |
| May 5, 5:55 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Fulton | 6 hr |
| May 5, 7:32 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden and 16 more | 88 min |
| May 5, 8:35 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bell and 69 more | 5 hr |
| May 5, 10:19 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ballard, Caldwell, Carlisle, Crittenden, Graves, Henderson and 10 more | 56 min |
| May 5, 10:35 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Calloway, Fulton | 5 hr |
| May 5, 11:12 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bell, Boyle and 58 more | 93 min |
| May 5, 12:06 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fulton | 114 min |
| May 5, 12:59 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bell, Boyle and 65 more | 61 min |
| May 5, 1:20 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bourbon and 73 more | 7 hr |
| May 5, 3:13 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fulton | 62 min |
| May 5, 3:35 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Fulton | 7 hr |
| May 5, 3:47 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bourbon and 68 more | 118 min |
| May 5, 5:42 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carter, Fleming and 12 more | 3 hr |
| May 5, 7:33 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bourbon and 69 more | 57 min |
| May 5, 7:47 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bath, Bourbon, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carter and 15 more | 88 min |
| May 5, 5:27 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Lucas | 3 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2003Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2003Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2003Every 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.