Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Morristown, TN

May 30, 2004Lee County, Virginia

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at May 30, 2004, 5:17 PM EDT for Lee County, Virginia. It was in force for 58 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 30, 2004, 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired: May 30, 2004, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lee County, VA

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:19 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.

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 30, 2:40 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 290 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: 708 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 510 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 129 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KMRX 302117
TORMRX
VAC105-302215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
517 PM EDT SUN MAY 30 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LEE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

* AT 514 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  ST. CHARLES...OR 10 MILES EAST OF HARLAN...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  ST. CHARLES AROUND 525 PM EDT
  7 MILES NORTH OF PENNINGTON GAP AROUND 535 PM EDT
  KEOKEE AROUND 545 PM EDT
  JASPER AROUND 600 PM EDT

THIS DANGEROUS STORM IS ALSO CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WINDS UP TO 90
MPH...AND GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL OR LARGER.

LAT...LON 3697 8307 3684 8331 3665 8298 3673 8283
          3681 8276

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 1:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Wise	50 min
May 30, 2:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Wise, City of Norton	25 min
May 30, 3:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Russell	49 min
May 30, 3:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Lee, Wise, City of Norton	38 min
May 30, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Wise, City of Norton	17 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes 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.