Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2008

Mesoscale Discussion 1981

July 31, 200814 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jul 31, 2008, 7:08 PM EDT for 14 counties in North Carolina; 4 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 67 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 31, 2008, 7:08 PM EDT (23:08 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 2008, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 67 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Florence County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:56 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 70 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: 1212 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -90 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 993 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 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 312309
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 312308 
NCZ000-SCZ000-010015-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 1981
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0608 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2008

AREAS AFFECTED...CAROLINA COASTAL PLAINS

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 784...

VALID 312308Z - 010015Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 784
CONTINUES.

RECENT RADAR IMAGERY INDICATES A NOTABLE INCREASE IN LINEAR
ORGANIZATION OF TWO DISTINCT CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS...COINCIDENT WITH
COOLING CLOUD TOPS IN IR SATELLITE TRENDS. ONE CLUSTER APPROACHING
PAMLICO SOUND...WITH A SECOND CLUSTER FARTHER SW ACROSS SERN NC/NRN
SC. DAMAGING WINDS WILL REMAIN THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH OVERALL
PROPAGATION TO THE E/SE GIVEN NEARLY UNIDIRECTIONAL WLY WIND
PROFILES...PER REGIONAL VAD DATA. INTERACTION OF OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES
WITH COASTAL SEA BREEZE APPEARS TO BE RESULTING IN NEW UPDRAFT
DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN THESE CLUSTERS AND MAY ULTIMATELY LEAD TO A
LARGER-SCALE QLCS TRACKING ACROSS THE IMMEDIATE COAST. IN THE WAKE
OF THESE CLUSTERS...CONVECTIVE OVERTURNING WILL LIKELY MITIGATE ANY
ADDITIONAL ORGANIZED SEVERE TSTM DEVELOPMENT.

..GRAMS.. 07/31/2008

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

ATTN...WFO...MHX...RAH...ILM...CAE...

35647643 36037605 36017557 35647533 35157575 34677657
34007799 33607892 33407948 33497993 33848006 34147978
34727864

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 31, 1:24 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham and 19 more	66 min
Jul 31, 1:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Bertie, Buncombe, Burke and 64 more	5 hr
Jul 31, 4:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Chowan and 41 more	63 min
Jul 31, 5:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Beaufort, Bladen, Columbus, Craven, Dare, Duplin and 12 more	4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2008 Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2008 Every mesoscale discussion in 2008

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.