Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2007

Tornado Watch 130

April 12, 200742 counties in North Carolina; 6 counties in South Carolina; 17 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 12, 2007, 3:25 AM EDT for 42 counties in North Carolina; 6 counties in South Carolina; 17 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 12, 2007, 3:25 AM EDT (07:25 UTC)
Expired: Apr 12, 2007, 11:00 AM EDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 65 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Pender County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, Greensville County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:29 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: 30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 5%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 609 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 446 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
WWUS20 KWNS 120727
SEL0  
SPC WW 120727
NCZ000-SCZ000-VAZ000-CWZ000-121500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 130
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
325 AM EDT THU APR 12 2007

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

       EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
       NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA
       SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING FROM 325 AM UNTIL 1100 AM 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 70 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FLORENCE
SOUTH CAROLINA TO 20 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF NORFOLK 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 SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 129. WATCH NUMBER 129 WILL NOT BE IN
EFFECT AFTER 325 AM EDT. CONTINUE...WW 128...

DISCUSSION...SUSTAINED TSTMS/MARGINAL SUPERCELLS CONTINUE TO FORM IN
BROKEN BAND EXTENDING SW/NE ACROSS ERN PORTIONS OF THE SC/NC
PIEDMONT.  THIS BAND SHOULD CONTINUE E ACROSS THE CSTL PLN LATER
THIS MORNING...WHERE STORMS WILL ENCOUNTER A SLOWLY WARMING AND
MOISTENING BOUNDARY LAYER.  WITH SFC LOW CENTER FORMING IN E CNTRL
VA...BACKED LOW LEVEL WINDS IN WW AREA WILL REMAIN SUPPORTIVE OF LOW
LEVEL STORM ROTATION...WHILE 60+ KT WSWLY FLOW ROUNDING BASE OF DEEP
IL UPR LOW PROVIDES SUFFICIENT DEEP SHEAR FOR SUSTAINED UPDRAFTS/
SUPERCELLS.  MAIN SEVERE THREAT WILL BE ISOLATED TORNADOES FROM
SUSTAINED SEMI-DISCRETE STORMS AND/OR SPIN UP TORNADOES INVOF LEWPS.

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 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25045.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 12, 12:16 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland and 31 more	89 min
Apr 12, 12:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Bertie, Bladen, Cabarrus, Caswell and 40 more	3 hr
Apr 12, 2:39 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 35 more	66 min
Apr 12, 6:18 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan and 20 more	57 min
Apr 12, 8:25 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Dare and 6 more	95 min
Apr 11, 9:39 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper	96 min
Apr 11, 10:43 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun and 14 more	62 min
Apr 11, 11:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun and 20 more	6 hr
Apr 12, 4:01 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and 4 more	89 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2007 Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2007 Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2007 Every tornado watch 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.