Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 394

June 4, 200434 counties in North Carolina; City of Chesapeake, Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 4, 2004, 1:00 PM EDT for 34 counties in North Carolina; City of Chesapeake, Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 4, 2004, 1:00 PM EDT (17:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 4, 2004, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 35 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Granville County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Orange County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, City of Chesapeake, VA

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:02 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.

Warnings issued inside it

16 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 4, 1:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	46 min
Jun 4, 1:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	42 min
Jun 4, 1:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Edgecombe	24 min
Jun 4, 1:40 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Johnston, Wayne, Wilson	95 min
Jun 4, 1:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	45 min
Jun 4, 1:50 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Pitt	40 min
Jun 4, 2:19 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Martin	41 min
Jun 4, 2:32 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Wake	118 min
Jun 4, 2:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Martin	51 min
Jun 4, 3:25 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Johnston	3 hr
Jun 4, 3:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Bertie	33 min
Jun 4, 3:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Martin	45 min
Jun 4, 3:52 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Martin	113 min
Jun 4, 4:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Washington	53 min
Jun 4, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	46 min
Jun 4, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Greene	52 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 782 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 999 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 041702
SEL4  
SPC WW 041700
NCZ000-VAZ000-042100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 394
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
100 PM EDT FRI JUN 4 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       CENTRAL AND EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       EXTREME SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON FROM 100 PM UNTIL 500 PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE
OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA TO 25
MILES SOUTHEAST OF ELIZABETH CITY NORTH CAROLINA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED SUPERCELLS ARE DEVELOPING OVER PARTS OF
CENTRAL NC IN WARM SECTOR SE OF SLOWLY ADVANCING SURFACE LOW OVER
WRN NC.  AIR MASS HAS DESTABILIZED ACROSS CENTRAL AND ERN C WITH
MLCAPE JUST ABOVE 1000 J/KG.  ACTIVITY IS BEING ENHANCED BY 0-1KM
HELICITY IN THE VICINITY OF WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND MID LEVEL DRY
AIR INTRUSION FROM THE SW.  SUPERCELLS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THRU
THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN THE WARM SECTOR.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...MCCARTHY

361,0791 364,0755 351,0754 345,0790

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 4, 11:49 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chatham, Chowan, Currituck and 31 more	116 min
Jun 4, 4:51 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Cumberland, Duplin and 14 more	54 min
Jun 4, 6:20 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Chowan and 21 more	115 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2004 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2004 Every tornado watch 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.