Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2004

Mesoscale Discussion 2233

September 17, 200435 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina; 14 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Sep 17, 2004, 1:37 PM EDT for 35 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina; 14 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 113 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Sep 17, 2004, 1:37 PM EDT (17:37 UTC)
Expired
Sep 17, 2004, 3:30 PM EDT
In force
113 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 53 counties

Alamance County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Granville County, NC, Greene County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, Appomattox County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, Franklin County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:39 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 109 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 888 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2004-09-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 237 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
888 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
237 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
5.5

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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 16, 8:45 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCCabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Polk and 1 more6 hr
Sep 16, 11:42 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGaston, Mecklenburg2 hr
Sep 17, 1:51 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston and 6 more84 min
Sep 17, 9:26 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Anson, Bladen, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland and 24 more2 hr
Sep 17, 10:10 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Anson, Bladen, Brunswick, Caswell, Chatham and 37 more7 hr
Sep 17, 11:03 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Bertie, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and 26 more87 min
Sep 17, 12:33 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Gates and 8 more117 min
Sep 17, 1:15 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 18 more7 hr
Sep 17, 3:53 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Edgecombe and 11 more2 hr
Sep 17, 4:01 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Franklin and 6 more59 min
Sep 17, 4:35 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin and 14 more3 hr
Sep 17, 6:19 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck and 13 more116 min
Sep 17, 6:50 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Hertford and 3 more5 hr
Sep 17, 7:23 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDuplin, Edgecombe, Greene, Halifax, Lenoir, Nash and 4 more37 min
Sep 17, 3:50 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCClarke, Frederick, Loudoun, City of Winchester4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2004Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2004Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2004Every 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.