Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2004

Mesoscale Discussion 1027

May 31, 20047 counties in Maryland; 37 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 31, 2004, 7:17 PM EDT for 7 counties in Maryland; 37 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 118 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 2004, 7:17 PM EDT (23:17 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2004, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 118 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 44 counties

Calvert County, MD, Charles County, MD, Dorchester County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Saint Mary's County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Accomack County, VA, Albemarle County, VA, Arlington County, VA, Caroline County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Essex County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Hanover County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King George County, VA, King William County, VA, Lancaster County, VA, Loudoun County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Madison County, VA, Mathews County, VA, Middlesex County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Northampton County, VA, Northumberland County, VA, Orange County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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 nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -157 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 12:40 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Garrett	5 hr
May 31, 2:40 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Garrett	2 hr
May 31, 4:40 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Garrett	95 min
May 31, 2:53 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Calvert, Charles, Saint Mary's, Somerset	37 min
May 31, 3:50 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Montgomery, Prince George's, Saint Mary's and 1 more	6 hr
May 31, 1:40 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	City of Bristol	5 hr
May 31, 5:50 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Campbell, Carroll, Charlotte, Floyd, Franklin, Halifax and 9 more	5 hr
May 31, 7:56 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry and 4 more	2 hr
May 31, 9:10 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Mecklenburg	5 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2004 Mesoscale Discussions in Maryland, 2004 Every mesoscale discussion 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.