Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 89, NWS Morristown, TN

May 31, 20044 counties in Virginia; Sullivan County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 2004, 3:46 AM EDT for 4 counties in Virginia; Sullivan County, Tennessee. It was in force for 59 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 2004, 3:46 AM EDT (07:46 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2004, 4:45 AM EDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Sullivan County, TN, City of Bristol, VA, Russell County, VA, Scott County, VA, Washington County, VA

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:49 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 31, 12:40 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr
May 31, 1:40 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 210 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: 504 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1119 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KMRX 310746 RRA
SVRMRX
TNC163-VAC167-169-191-520-310845-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
347 AM EDT MON MAY 31 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SULLIVAN COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE
  CITY OF BRISTOL IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
  RUSSELL COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
  SCOTT COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
  WASHINGTON COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 445 AM EDT

* AT 344 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM CASTLEWOOD TO 29 MILES SOUTHWEST
  OF CLINCHPORT...OR FROM 13 MILES WEST OF LEBANON TO 7 MILES WEST OF
  ROGERSVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  WEBER CITY AROUND 355 AM EDT
  LEBANON AROUND 400 AM EDT
  HILANDER PARK AROUND 405 AM EDT
  HAYTERS GAP AROUND 410 AM EDT
  BRISTOL VA AROUND 415 AM EDT
  GLADE SPRING AROUND 420 AM EDT

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING...
  WINDS UP TO 70 MPH...WHICH COULD PUSH OVER SHALLOW ROOTED TREES...
  AND DAMAGE CHIMNEYS AND TV ANTENNAS.
  VERY HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH MAY CAUSE LOCALIZED FLOODING.
  FREQUENT AND DEADLY CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. REMEMBER...TORNADOES CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO DEVELOP RAPIDLY IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. IF
THREATENING WEATHER IS OBSERVED...MOVE TO SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

LAT...LON 3688 8179 3674 8164 3663 8167 3662 8182
          3643 8212 3644 8261 3660 8261 3661 8288
          3693 8229

$$

DMG

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 31, 3:00 AM EDT, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 3:00 AM EDT, 46 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
300 AM EDT MON MAY 31 2004

.DISCUSSION...AREA RADARS CURRENTLY SHOW WAVY LINE OF CONVECTION
APPROACHING THE WESTERN COUNTIES OF OUR FORECAST AREA. MODELS AND
SHORT RANGE ENSEMBLES GENERALLY AGREE THAT THIS LINE WILL BE NEAR
THE SPINE OF THE APPALACHIANS BY 12Z MONDAY. ANTICIPATE THAT PRECIP
BEHIND THE LINE WILL LINGER INTO THE FIRST PERIOD AND THUS WILL
CONTINUE HIGH LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL POPS EARLY IN THE PERIOD BEFORE
RAPIDLY DROPPING OFF THE POPS BY 18Z AS DRIER AIR IS USHERED INTO THE
AREA. REMAINDER OF THE WORK WEEK WILL BE DOMINATED BY GREAT
LAKES UPPER LOW THAT WILL ONLY SLOWLY MOVE EASTWARD. HEIGHTS WILL
FALL TO UNSEASONABLY LOW LEVELS AND SHORTWAVES ROTATING AROUND THE
UPPER LOW WILL PROVIDE OCCASIONAL UNSETTLED WEATHER. HOWEVER...
GENERALLY BENIGN WEATHER WILL BE THE RULE AS RELATIVELY DRY AIR
REMAINS ENTRENCHED OVER THE AREA.
&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Chattanooga, TN   81  59  85  60 /  70  10  10  10
Knoxville, TN     78  58  82  59 /  70  20  10  10
Bristol, TN       77  52  80  57 /  70  20  10  10
Oak Ridge, TN     79  57  83  59 /  70  10  10  10
&&

.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC...TORNADO WATCH FOR EARLY THIS MORNING FOR NCZ060...NCZ061.
TN...TORNADO WATCH FOR EARLY THIS MORNING FOR ZONES TNC007...
TNC065...TNC115...TNC143...TNC153.

VA...TORNADO WATCH FOR THIS MORNING FOR ZONES VAC105...
VAC167...VAC169...VAC191...VAC195.

&&

LCM

Hazardous weather outlook, May 30, 6:00 AM EDT, 21 hours 46 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
600 AM EDT SUN MAY 30 2004

NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002-005-
006-008-311000-
ANDERSON-BLEDSOE-BLOUNT SMOKY MTN-BRADLEY-CAMPBELL-CHEROKEE-
CLAIBORNE-CLAY-COCKE SMOKY MTN-EAST POLK-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN-HAMILTON-
HANCOCK-HAWKINS-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-KNOX-LEE-LOUDON-MARION-MCMINN-
MEIGS-MORGAN-NORTH SEVIER-NORTHWEST CARTER-NORTHWEST COCKE-
NORTHWEST GREENE-NORTHWEST MONROE-NW BLOUNT-RHEA-ROANE-RUSSELL-
SCOTT TN-SCOTT VA-SEQUATCHIE-SEVIER SMOKY MTN-SOUTHEAST CARTER-
SOUTHEAST GREENE-SOUTHEAST MONROE-SULLIVAN-UNICOI-UNION-
WASHINGTON TN-WASHINGTON VA-WEST POLK-WISE-
600 AM EDT (500 AM CDT) SUN MAY 30 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST
VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA.

.DAY ONE (TODAY AND TONIGHT)...

A LARGE SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS EVENING
OVER THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY...AND MOVE EAST OVERNIGHT
ACROSS THE TENNESSEE RIVER VALLEY. ALTHOUGH THIS COMPLEX OF
THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AS IT MOVES EAST OVERNIGHT...
THERE REMAINS THE POTENTIAL FOR A WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WIND EVENT WITH
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND
EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. IN
ADDITION...AN ISOLATED TORNADO OR TWO WILL BE POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY)...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL
WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THE MORNING HOURS ON MEMORIAL DAY.
OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH THE
MORNING HOURS OF MEMORIAL DAY.

PLEASE STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX.

DMG

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 30, 10:05 PM EDT, 5 hours 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1005 PM EDT SUN MAY 30 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 PM     TSTM WND DMG     PENNINGTON GAP          36.76N 83.03W
05/30/2004                   LEE                VA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            FEW TREES DOWNED IN EXTREME NORTHERN PART OF COUNTY.

&&

GM

Local storm report, May 31, 3:08 AM EDT, 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
308 AM EDT MON MAY 31 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0230 AM     TSTM WND DMG     LA FOLLETTE             36.37N 84.13W
05/31/2004                   CAMPBELL           TN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            A FEW TREES DOWN.

0240 AM     TSTM WND DMG     TAZEWELL                36.46N 83.58W
05/31/2004                   CLAIBORNE          TN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            A FEW TREES DOWN.

&&

DAE

Local storm report, May 31, 3:21 AM EDT, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
321 AM EDT MON MAY 31 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0300 AM     TSTM WND DMG     SOUTH PITTSBURG         35.02N 85.71W
05/31/2004                   MARION             TN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            A FEW TREES DOWN.

&&

DAE

Local storm report, May 31, 3:25 AM EDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
325 AM EDT MON MAY 31 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0320 AM     HAIL             CHATTANOOGA             35.07N 85.26W
05/31/2004  0.75 INCH        HAMILTON           TN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

DAE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 12:13 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Lee	47 min
May 31, 12:27 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Scott	48 min
May 31, 1:13 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Russell, Washington	47 min
May 31, 1:18 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Scott	27 min
May 31, 1:59 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Lee	61 min
May 31, 2:07 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Washington	38 min
May 31, 2:57 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Lee, Scott, Wise, City of Norton	48 min
May 31, 3:02 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MRX	Lee	3 hr
May 31, 1:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Scott	60 min
May 31, 1:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Campbell	65 min
May 31, 2:12 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Marion, Sequatchie	63 min
May 31, 2:43 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock	47 min
May 31, 2:46 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bledsoe, Hamilton	59 min
May 31, 2:47 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Morgan, Union	43 min
May 31, 2:52 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Marion	28 min
May 31, 3:03 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Grainger	42 min
May 31, 3:07 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Hamilton	38 min
May 31, 3:13 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox, Loudon, Meigs, Rhea, Roane	62 min
May 31, 3:13 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Sequatchie	32 min
May 31, 3:19 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bradley	56 min
May 31, 3:22 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hawkins	38 min
May 31, 3:31 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson	29 min
May 31, 3:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock	24 min
May 31, 3:37 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	McMinn	53 min
May 31, 3:41 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Polk	64 min
May 31, 3:44 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson	46 min
May 31, 3:44 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	61 min
May 31, 3:46 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamilton	29 min
May 31, 3:51 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Monroe	54 min
May 31, 4:04 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hawkins	26 min
May 31, 4:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sevier	67 min
May 31, 4:16 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Cocke, Greene, Washington	59 min
May 31, 4:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Unicoi	35 min
May 31, 5:07 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Carter, Johnson	38 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 2004 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Tennessee, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2004

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.