Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 617

July 7, 200513 counties in Georgia; 14 counties in North Carolina; 14 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 7, 2005, 3:10 AM EDT for 13 counties in Georgia; 14 counties in North Carolina; 14 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 7, 2005, 3:10 AM EDT (07:10 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 2005, 8:54 AM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 41 counties

Banks County, GA, Clarke County, GA, Elbert County, GA, Franklin County, GA, Habersham County, GA, Hart County, GA, Jackson County, GA, Madison County, GA, Morgan County, GA, Oconee County, GA, Oglethorpe County, GA, Rabun County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Cabarrus County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davie County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:12 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 5:23 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPHart3 hr
Jul 7, 5:30 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningFFCMadison3 hr
Jul 7, 6:41 AM EDTTornado WarningGSPCleveland37 min
Jul 7, 7:30 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPGreenville3 hr
Jul 7, 8:05 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAnderson3 hr
Jul 7, 8:08 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCatawba, Iredell67 min
Jul 7, 8:32 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPPickens3 hr
Jul 7, 8:40 AM EDTTornado WarningGSPAnderson33 min
Jul 7, 8:45 AM EDTTornado WarningGSPIredell45 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 263 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 00:00Z on 2005-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 204 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2005-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 14 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
204 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1642 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
37 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 070711
SEL7  
SPC WW 070711
GAZ000-NCZ000-SCZ000-071400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 617
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
310 AM EDT THU JUL 7 2005

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

       NORTHEAST GEORGIA
       WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING FROM 310 AM UNTIL 1000 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 0.5 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF ATHENS
GEORGIA TO 30 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA. 
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).

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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 616...

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO PERSIST IN ERN QUADRANT
OF REMNANT CIRCULATION OF T.C. CINDY THROUGH LATER THIS MORNING AS
SYSTEM CONTINUE NE ALONG THE ERN SLOPES OF THE SRN APLCNS.  WIND
FIELD IN NRN SC /PER GSP VWP/ HAS BECOME MORE FAVORABLE FOR LOW
LEVEL STORM ROTATION IN THE PAST 2 HRS AS LOW LEVEL WIND MAX
ASSOCIATED WITH CINDY HAS BEGUN TO OVERSPREAD REGION.  COUPLED WITH
HIGH SURFACE DEWPOINTS...AND POSSIBLY SOME DEGREE OF TOPOGRAPHIC
FORCING...SETUP MAY SUPPORT ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 0.5 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25025.


...CORFIDI

345,0833 360,0802 343,0802 332,0833

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 6, 10:53 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButts, Carroll, Chattahoochee, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb and 30 more2 hr
Jul 7, 1:47 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Butts and 65 more28 min
Jul 7, 5:44 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBanks, Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart and 7 more91 min
Jul 7, 8:43 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColumbia, Elbert, Glascock, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond and 3 more32 min
Jul 7, 9:00 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Alexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Caswell and 27 more7 hr
Jul 7, 12:33 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Burke, Caldwell, Caswell, Catawba, Cleveland and 15 more117 min
Jul 7, 1:17 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBertie, Chowan, Dare, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford and 8 more88 min
Jul 7, 2:05 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Edgecombe and 14 more8 hr
Jul 7, 3:45 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Davie and 17 more6 hr
Jul 7, 4:47 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHalifax, Northampton118 min
Jul 7, 6:01 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBertie, Camden, Chatham, Chowan, Currituck, Dare and 20 more59 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2005Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2005Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2005Every 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.