Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2006

Tornado Watch 351

May 14, 200653 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 14, 2006, 2:47 PM EDT for 53 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 14, 2006, 2:47 PM EDT (18:47 UTC)
Expired: May 14, 2006, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 53 counties

Alamance County, NC, Anson County, NC, Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Granville County, NC, Greene County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Orange County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Person County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:47 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 80%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 14, 2:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	43 min
May 14, 2:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson, Stanly	41 min
May 14, 3:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin, Vance	43 min
May 14, 3:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Vance	23 min
May 14, 3:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	24 min
May 14, 3:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Montgomery	33 min
May 14, 3:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham, Orange	31 min
May 14, 3:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	26 min
May 14, 3:41 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin	19 min
May 14, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Martin	32 min
May 14, 3:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Montgomery	28 min
May 14, 3:49 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Durham	26 min
May 14, 3:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	39 min
May 14, 3:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	23 min
May 14, 3:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Halifax, Nash	49 min
May 14, 3:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Moore	47 min
May 14, 4:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville, Wake	28 min
May 14, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Guilford	41 min
May 14, 4:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Bertie	36 min
May 14, 4:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Lee	28 min
May 14, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Tyrrell	52 min
May 14, 4:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson	37 min
May 14, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Washington	51 min
May 14, 4:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Person	24 min
May 14, 4:49 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Washington	41 min
May 14, 4:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Bertie	24 min
May 14, 4:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Tyrrell	21 min
May 14, 4:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Alamance	17 min
May 14, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	31 min
May 14, 5:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Richmond	25 min
May 14, 5:29 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Orange	16 min
May 14, 5:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Durham	28 min
May 14, 6:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Wake	23 min
May 14, 6:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville, Vance	36 min
May 14, 6:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	51 min
May 14, 6:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin	25 min
May 14, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Chatham	16 min
May 14, 6:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham	27 min
May 14, 6:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	40 min
May 14, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin, Nash	47 min
May 14, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Lee	19 min
May 14, 7:25 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Lee	35 min
May 14, 7:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	29 min
May 14, 7:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham	17 min
May 14, 7:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Edgecombe	46 min
May 14, 7:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett	33 min
May 14, 7:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Wake	32 min
May 14, 8:04 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Edgecombe	26 min
May 14, 8:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Martin, Pitt	51 min
May 14, 8:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Martin, Washington	46 min
May 14, 9:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Tyrrell	30 min
May 14, 9:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Dare	33 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 147 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: 129 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -113 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 846 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 8:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain	5 hr
May 14, 12:21 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain	54 min
May 14, 12:20 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Beaufort and 68 more	115 min
May 14, 12:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Caswell and 45 more	7 hr
May 14, 2:42 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Cabarrus, Camden and 55 more	63 min
May 14, 3:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender	6 hr
May 14, 4:35 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chatham, Chowan and 42 more	55 min
May 14, 4:58 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Bladen, Brunswick, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 18 more	92 min
May 14, 6:52 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2006 Every tornado watch in 2006

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.