Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2004

Mesoscale Discussion 800

May 21, 20047 counties in North Carolina; 44 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 21, 2004, 4:30 PM EDT for 7 counties in North Carolina; 44 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 21, 2004, 4:30 PM EDT (20:30 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 2004, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 51 counties

Camden County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Gates County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Amelia County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Poquoson, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King William County, VA, Lancaster County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mathews County, VA, Middlesex County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Northampton County, VA, Northumberland County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, York County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:33 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 532 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 845 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 11 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 21, 12:28 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Gates, Halifax and 6 more	2 hr
May 21, 1:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Camden, Currituck, Gates, Hertford, Northampton, Pasquotank	7 hr
May 21, 8:34 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Albemarle, Arlington, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax and 29 more	86 min
May 21, 5:31 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Albemarle, Alleghany, Augusta, Bath, Clarke, Culpeper and 24 more	89 min
May 21, 6:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Arlington, Augusta, Bath, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax and 21 more	4 hr

Nearby

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