Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 74

April 13, 200426 counties in North Carolina; 13 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 13, 2004, 10:35 AM EDT for 26 counties in North Carolina; 13 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 13, 2004, 10:35 AM EDT (14:35 UTC)
Expired: Apr 13, 2004, 4:00 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 39 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:35 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 13, 11:49 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Onslow	41 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, 2.6 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-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: 1252 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 5.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 131432
SEL4  
SPC WW 131435
NCZ000-VAZ000-CWZ000-132000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 74
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1035 AM EDT TUE APR 13 2004

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

       EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 1035 AM UNTIL
400 PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH 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 10 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF NORFOLK VIRGINIA TO 20
MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF JACKSONVILLE 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...VERY MOIST AND MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS ONSHORE E
OF WEDGE FRONT ERN NC AND INTO SERN CORNER OF VA.  WITH APPROACH OF
VIGOROUS MID LEVEL JET MAX FROM GA SHEAR PROFILES ARE VERY FAVORABLE
FOR LOW TOPPED SUPERCELLS IN WARM SECTOR.  DAMAGING WINDS AND
ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE LIKELY WITH ANY SUPERCELLS THAT DEVELOP AS
STORMS MOVE RAPIDLY NEWD THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS WATCH AREA.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23040.


...HALES

362,0751 341,0771 351,0783 372,0764

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 13, 9:37 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Carteret, Chowan and 37 more	83 min
Apr 13, 1:23 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 23 more	97 min
Apr 13, 3:19 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 23 more	56 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.