Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 345

May 10, 200326 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 10, 2003, 7:10 PM EDT for 26 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 10, 2003, 7:10 PM EDT (23:10 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2003, 1:00 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 26 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Granville County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Person County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:10 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 10, 7:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville	43 min
May 10, 7:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Warren	36 min
May 10, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Martin	47 min
May 10, 9:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort	41 min
May 10, 9:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Beaufort	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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 170 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: 1437 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -139 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 969 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 102304
SEL5  
SPC WW 102310
NCZ000-CWZ000-110500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 345 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
710 PM EDT SAT MAY 10 2003

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

       NORTHERN NORTH CAROLINA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 710 PM UNTIL
100 AM 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 40 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA
TO 50 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF ELIZABETH CITY 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 340. WATCH NUMBER 340 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 710
PM EDT. CONTINUE...WW 338...WW 341...WW 342...WW 343...WW 344...


DISCUSSION...CLUSTER OF SUPERCELL STORMS ALONG THE VA/NC BORDER WILL
LIKELY TRACK SOUTHEASTWARD ALONG/NORTH OF SURFACE WARM FRONT TOWARD
THE COAST.  STRONG INSTABILITY SOUTH OF FRONT...COUPLED WITH
SUFFICIENT VERTICAL SHEAR INDICATES THE THREAT OF 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 28035.


...HART

364,0790 363,0752 352,0752 353,0790

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 9:45 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir and 3 more	60 min
May 10, 12:41 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Rockingham, Stokes and 4 more	2 hr
May 10, 2:31 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Caswell, Chowan, Durham and 19 more	89 min
May 10, 3:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alamance, Caswell, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville and 11 more	6 hr
May 10, 4:46 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Caswell, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville and 11 more	89 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.