Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 760

August 30, 20055 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 30, 2005, 1:25 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 30, 2005, 1:25 PM EDT (17:25 UTC)
Expired: Aug 30, 2005, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 83 counties

Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Madison County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC, Carter County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Alleghany County, VA, Bath County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Carroll County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Monroe County, WV

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:25 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 30, 1:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Surry	25 min
Aug 30, 1:53 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Greenville	17 min
Aug 30, 1:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Carroll	32 min
Aug 30, 2:08 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Polk	22 min
Aug 30, 3:14 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Patrick	31 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 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 470 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 833 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 125 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 301727
SEL0  
SPC WW 301727
GAZ000-NCZ000-SCZ000-VAZ000-WVZ000-310100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 760
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
125 PM EDT TUE AUG 30 2005

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

       EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA
       WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       THE PIEDMONT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
       WESTERN VIRGINIA
       SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 125 PM UNTIL 900
PM 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 60 STATUTE MILES
EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF ANDERSON SOUTH
CAROLINA TO 15 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF LYNCHBURG 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 758...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 759. WATCH NUMBER 758 759
WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 125 PM EDT. 

DISCUSSION...CLOUD BREAKS ARE ALLOWING SUBSTANTIAL SURFACE HEATING
AND GRADUAL DESTABILIZATION E OF THE APPALACHIANS.  THOUGH THE
REMNANTS OF KATRINA ARE MOVING NEWD TO THE W OF THE
MOUNTAINS...SUFFICIENT VERTICAL SHEAR EXTENDS FAR ENOUGH E TO
OVERLAP THE STRONGER INSTABILITY.  A FEW SUPERCELLS WITH A COUPLE
TORNADOES AND A FEW DAMAGING GUSTS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS
AFTERNOON/EVENING AS CONVECTION GRADUALLY INTENSIFIES.

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 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21035.


...THOMPSON

352,0833 381,0794 365,0782 335,0821

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 29, 11:05 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Clay, Graham	115 min
Aug 30, 4:39 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 34 more	2 hr
Aug 30, 5:50 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and 2 more	8 hr
Aug 30, 8:35 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alexander, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba and 16 more	5 hr
Aug 30, 8:47 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and 2 more	118 min
Aug 30, 12:42 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell and 11 more	2 hr
Aug 30, 4:37 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell and 13 more	83 min
Aug 30, 12:59 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bedford, Benton, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee and 33 more	3 hr
Aug 30, 1:55 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Greene, Hancock, Hawkins, Sullivan, Washington	7 hr
Aug 30, 6:35 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Arlington, Augusta, Bath and 47 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2005 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2005 Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 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.