Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 66
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 20, 2003, 10:10 AM EST for 16 counties in North Carolina; Georgetown County, Horry County, South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 20, 2003, 10:10 AM EST (15:10 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 20, 2003, 3:00 PM EST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
Counties Beaufort County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Georgetown County, SC, Horry County, SC
The radar
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:13 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
1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 11:22 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Brunswick | 53 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, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 117 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
- 52 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -94 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 707 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 262 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 396 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 201514 SEL6 SPC WW 201510 NCZ000-SCZ000-CWZ000-202000- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 66 STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1010 AM EST THU MAR 20 2003 THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA EASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 1010 AM UNTIL 300 PM EST. 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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH CAROLINA TO 60 MILES NORTHEAST 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 65... DISCUSSION...BAND OF STRONG/SEVERE STORMS WITH EMBEDDED BOW ECHOES CONTINUES TO MOVE EWD/NEWD INTO SRN PARTS OF THE AREA. SOME HEATING HAS BEEN NOTED ACROSS ERN NC DESTABILIZING THE AIR MASS SLIGHTLY TO 500 TO 1000 J/KG. MORNING RAOBS SHOWS STRONG LOW LEVEL VEERING IN THE WINDS WITH HELICITY VALUES IN THE LOWEST 2KM AROUND 350 M2/S2...INDICATING THE POSSIBILITY OF 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 23040. ...MCCARTHY 332,0795 354,0772 354,0750 332,0773
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2:16 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Columbus, Pender | 119 min |
| Mar 20, 5:48 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus | 117 min |
| Mar 20, 10:40 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bladen, Columbus, Craven, Duplin, Greene and 10 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 20, 12:52 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Chowan, Craven, Jones and 7 more | 113 min |
| Mar 19, 7:04 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper | 116 min |
| Mar 19, 7:15 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Beaufort, Jasper | 4 hr |
| Mar 19, 8:58 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chester and 19 more | 3 hr |
| Mar 20, 12:20 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chester and 19 more | 4 hr |
| Mar 20, 3:06 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allendale, Bamberg | 54 min |
| Mar 20, 3:40 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allendale, Bamberg, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more | 5 hr |
| Mar 20, 6:12 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allendale, Bamberg, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, Jasper | 2 hr |
| Mar 20, 8:40 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 20, 2:35 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allendale, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 20, 4:21 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more | 114 min |
| Mar 20, 6:57 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton and 3 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2003Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 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.