Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 325

May 9, 200313 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 9, 2003, 7:20 PM EDT for 13 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 9, 2003, 7:20 PM EDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 2003, 11:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Beaufort County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Craven County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 7:32 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Hyde	13 min
May 9, 7:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Pamlico	41 min
May 9, 7:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Hyde	22 min
May 9, 7:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wilson	37 min
May 9, 8:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	40 min
May 9, 8:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Pamlico	29 min
May 9, 8:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Greene	26 min
May 9, 8:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Greene	32 min
May 9, 8:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	29 min
May 9, 9:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Craven	34 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 65 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: 1522 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1058 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 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.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 092316
SEL5  
SPC WW 092320
NCZ000-CWZ000-100300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 325 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
720 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003

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

       EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY EVENING FROM 720 PM UNTIL 1100 PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GOLDSBORO NORTH
CAROLINA TO 70 MILES EAST OF NEW BERN NORTH CAROLINA.

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 318...WW 319...WW 320...WW
321...WW 322...WW 323...WW 324...


DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS/SUPERCELLS CONTINUE DEVELOPING
ESEWD ACROSS ERN NC.  WITH THE VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS AND MODERATE
VEERING SHEAR PROFILES POTENTIAL WILL CONTINUE FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL UNTIL STORMS MOVE OFFSHORE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 29030.


...HALES

354,0781 353,0754 342,0754 343,0781

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 3:53 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus and 24 more	97 min
May 9, 3:55 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Bertie, Camden, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan and 30 more	2 hr
May 9, 4:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Durham, Edgecombe and 16 more	6 hr
May 9, 6:53 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Chowan, Craven, Dare, Durham and 21 more	97 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 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.