Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 102

March 28, 200525 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 28, 2005, 8:30 AM EST for 25 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 28, 2005, 8:30 AM EST (13:30 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 2005, 1:00 PM EST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 34 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde 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, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Brunswick County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, Greensville County, VA, Southampton County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:32 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
Mar 28, 8:44 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MHX	Hyde	31 min

Discussions around it

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

Mesoscale Discussion 426Mar 28, 7:56 AM EST

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 276 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -88 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 818 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 281329
SEL2  
SPC WW 281329
NCZ000-VAZ000-CWZ000-281800-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 102
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
830 AM EST MON MAR 28 2005

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

       EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 830 AM UNTIL 100
PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF NEW BERN
NORTH CAROLINA TO 60 MILES NORTHWEST OF ELIZABETH CITY NORTH
CAROLINA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

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...LARGE CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN NC WILL
ROTATE NORTHEASTWARD INTO SOUTHEAST VA DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS. 
ACTIVITY IS CROSSING SURFACE WARM FRONT...WHERE VERY STRONG LOW
LEVEL AND DEEP LAYER VERTICAL SHEAR IS PRESENT.  POTENTIAL EXISTS
FOR ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES
BEING THE MAIN THREATS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23045.


...HART

343,0775 365,0780 365,0755 343,0754

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 4:06 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anson, Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin and 13 more	84 min
Mar 28, 7:56 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 30 more	94 min
Mar 28, 2:17 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Accomack, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Essex, Gloucester and 28 more	118 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2005 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2005 Every tornado watch in 2005

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.