Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2007

Mesoscale Discussion 2

January 1, 200711 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jan 1, 2007, 12:34 AM EST for 11 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 116 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 1, 2007, 12:34 AM EST (05:34 UTC)
Expired
Jan 1, 2007, 2:30 AM EST
In force
116 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Alexander County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Campbell County, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, Franklin County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:36 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 39 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 2007-01-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2007-01-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 266 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
492 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
266 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
375 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
ACUS11 KWNS 010534
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 010534 
VAZ000-NCZ000-010730-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0002
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1134 PM CST SUN DEC 31 2006

AREAS AFFECTED...WRN NC INTO S CNTRL VA

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 010534Z - 010730Z

ROTATING...SUSTAINED CONVECTIVE CELL OVER WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
APPEARS TO BE OCCURRING IN RESPONSE TO LOW-LEVEL FORCING NEAR WEAK
TRIPLE POINT LOW DEVELOPING TO THE LEE OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL
APPALACHIANS.  IT IS UNCERTAIN IF CELL HAS BEEN ENHANCED BY
MID/UPPER FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE TROUGH NOW
LIFTING INTO THE LOWER GREAT LAKES/UPPER OHIO VALLEY...BUT UPPER
FEATURE PROBABLY WILL NOT BE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR MUCH LONGER.
LOW-LEVEL ENVIRONMENT ALONG WARM FRONT IS RELATIVELY MOIST AND NEAR
SATURATION...BUT LAPSE RATES ARE VERY WEAK...MINIMIZING CAPE TO A
SHALLOW LAYER...MOSTLY BELOW MIXED PHASE LAYER TEMPERATURES
FAVORABLE FOR CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. 

WHILE...PROSPECTS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ARE
UNCERTAIN...LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE/WARM ADVECTION MAY MAINTAIN A
FOCUSED AREA OF CONVECTION IN STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT NEAR 50+
KT SOUTHERLY LOW-LEVEL JET AXIS.  AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS
POSSIBLE...BUT EVAPORATIVE COOLING ASSOCIATED WITH DRIER AIR AT
MID-LEVELS MAY EVENTUALLY SUPPORT AN INCREASING RISK FOR DAMAGING
WINDS...AS DOWNDRAFTS AID DOWNWARD TRANSFER OF HIGHER MOMENTUM AIR. 
ACTIVITY APPEARS LIKELY TO SPREAD NEAR/NORTHWEST OF WINSTON-SALEM
NC/DANVILLE VA...TOWARD LYNCHBURG VA BY 09-10Z.

..KERR.. 01/01/2007

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...AKQ...RAH...RNK...GSP...

35928152 36888017 37427918 37327850 36517893 35928010
35588064 35518128

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2007Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2007Every mesoscale discussion in 2007

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.