Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 620

July 7, 200523 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 7, 2005, 3:45 PM EDT for 23 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 7, 2005, 3:45 PM EDT (19:45 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 2005, 10:00 PM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 32 counties

Alamance County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Granville County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Union County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Appomattox County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:47 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 3:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPRowan13 min
Jul 7, 3:49 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHForsyth116 min
Jul 7, 3:55 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKRockingham35 min
Jul 7, 4:01 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPCabarrus, Mecklenburg3 hr
Jul 7, 4:02 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKStokes31 min
Jul 7, 4:16 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKPittsylvania44 min
Jul 7, 4:21 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPDavie, Rowan3 hr
Jul 7, 4:29 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKRockingham48 min
Jul 7, 4:59 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKPittsylvania, City of Danville61 min
Jul 7, 5:02 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHGuilford30 min
Jul 7, 5:10 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKCaswell28 min
Jul 7, 5:26 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHMontgomery, Randolph49 min
Jul 7, 5:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKHalifax57 min
Jul 7, 5:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHMontgomery48 min
Jul 7, 7:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham50 min
Jul 7, 8:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham, Wake41 min
Jul 7, 9:00 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRNKCharlotte2 hr

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 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 19 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 12:00Z on 2005-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 309 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 12:00Z on 2005-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 74 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
309 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-68 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1315 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 071945
SEL0  
SPC WW 071945
NCZ000-SCZ000-VAZ000-080200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 620
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
345 PM EDT THU JUL 7 2005

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

       CENTRAL AND PART OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       FAR NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA
       SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 345 PM UNTIL
1000 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 APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHARLOTTE
NORTH CAROLINA TO 45 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF DANVILLE VIRGINIA. 
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).

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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 618. WATCH NUMBER 618 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 345
PM EDT. CONTINUE...WW 619...

DISCUSSION...SURFACE LOW WHICH IS THE REMNANTS OF T.S. CINDY WAS
LOCATED OVER WRN NC...AND WILL CONTINUE MOVING NEWD TOWARDS CENTRAL
VA THROUGH THE EVENING.  ENHANCED LOW LEVEL SHEAR NEAR THE
CENTER...AND AS STORMS INTERACT WITH SURFACE WARM FRONT EXTENDING
NEWD AWAY FROM THE LOW...WILL MAINTAIN A THREAT OF TORNADOES AND
DAMAGING WINDS GIVEN MAGNITUDE OF INSTABILITY AND LOW LEVEL SHEAR.

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 22030.


...EVANS

361,0810 374,0783 355,0783 342,0810

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 1:47 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCherokee, Clay, Macon, Polk, Transylvania28 min
Jul 7, 3:10 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCCabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Davie, Gaston, Henderson and 8 more6 hr
Jul 7, 5:44 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Davie and 10 more91 min
Jul 7, 8:43 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alexander, Anson, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell and 33 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, 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 Virginia, 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.