Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 339

May 10, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 10, 2003, 1:20 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 10, 2003, 1:20 PM EDT (17:20 UTC)
Expired: May 10, 2003, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 64 counties

Bell County, KY, Boyd County, KY, Breathitt County, KY, Carter County, KY, Clay County, KY, Elliott County, KY, Fleming County, KY, Floyd County, KY, Greenup County, KY, Harlan County, KY, Johnson County, KY, Knott County, KY, Lawrence County, KY, Leslie County, KY, Letcher County, KY, Lewis County, KY, Magoffin County, KY, Martin County, KY, Menifee County, KY, Morgan County, KY, Owsley County, KY, Perry County, KY, Pike County, KY, Rowan County, KY, Wolfe County, KY, Lawrence County, OH, Bland County, VA, Buchanan County, VA, Carroll County, VA, City of Bristol, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Norton, VA, City of Radford, VA, Dickenson County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Lee County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Russell County, VA, Scott County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wise County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Boone County, WV, Cabell County, WV, Clay County, WV, Fayette County, WV, Greenbrier County, WV, Kanawha County, WV, Lincoln County, WV, Logan County, WV, McDowell County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Mingo County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Putnam County, WV, Raleigh County, WV, Summers County, WV, Wayne County, WV, Webster County, WV, Wyoming County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:24 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 10, 1:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell	33 min
May 10, 2:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln, Wayne	25 min
May 10, 2:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Lincoln	31 min
May 10, 2:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Kanawha	36 min
May 10, 2:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Logan, Mingo	27 min
May 10, 3:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Logan, Wyoming	30 min
May 10, 3:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Kanawha	23 min
May 10, 3:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Raleigh, Wyoming	52 min
May 10, 4:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Summers	30 min
May 10, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Lewis	52 min
May 10, 4:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILN	Lewis, Mason	30 min
May 10, 5:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILN	Lewis	30 min
May 10, 5:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Greenup	40 min
May 10, 5:36 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILN	Lewis	24 min
May 10, 5:41 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Greenup	34 min
May 10, 6:14 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Greenup	31 min
May 10, 6:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Lawrence	32 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

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 213 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: 149 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 754 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 101715
SEL9  
SPC WW 101720
KYZ000-VAZ000-WVZ000-102300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 339 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
120 PM EDT SAT MAY 10 2003

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

       EASTERN KENTUCKY
       WESTERN VIRGINIA
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 120 PM UNTIL
700 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 NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF JACKSON KENTUCKY
TO 35 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF DUBLIN 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 335...WW 336...WW 337...WW
338...


DISCUSSION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY OVER
EASTERN KY AND SPREAD EASTWARD INTO WV/VA.  STRONG INSTABILITY AND
FAVORABLE SHEAR PROFILES ASSOCIATED WITH MID LEVEL JET MAX MAY
RESULT IN A FEW SUPERCELLS...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES.

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 26035.


...HART

384,0834 384,0802 362,0802 363,0834

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 10, 4:33 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Bath, Boone, Bourbon, Boyd, Bracken and 45 more	87 min
May 10, 10:25 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Breckinridge, Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Union and 1 more	2 hr
May 10, 11:12 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Greenup, Harrison, Kenton and 4 more	2 hr
May 10, 11:54 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ballard, Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Henderson and 4 more	66 min
May 10, 12:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant and 5 more	5 hr
May 10, 12:41 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson and 13 more	2 hr
May 10, 2:04 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant and 5 more	86 min
May 10, 3:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott and 20 more	93 min
May 10, 3:46 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Fleming, Grant, Greenup and 6 more	59 min
May 10, 5:56 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup and 10 more	94 min
May 10, 6:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup and 11 more	6 hr
May 9, 8:57 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Athens, Hocking, Meigs	63 min
May 9, 11:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Lucas and 5 more	5 hr
May 10, 2:31 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bedford, Brunswick, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Greensville and 14 more	89 min
May 10, 3:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bedford, Brunswick, Campbell, Charlotte, Craig, Dinwiddie and 18 more	6 hr
May 10, 4:46 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bedford, Brunswick, Campbell, Charlotte, Craig, Floyd and 16 more	89 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2003 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2003 Tornado Watches in West 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.