Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 282

May 8, 200835 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 2008, 7:20 PM EDT for 35 counties in North Carolina; 9 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 8, 2008, 7:20 PM EDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 2008, 3:01 AM EDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 44 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Anson County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Polk County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:21 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
50%
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
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 8, 7:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPBurke, Caldwell57 min
May 8, 7:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAlexander, Burke, Caldwell61 min
May 8, 8:11 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPAlexander, Caldwell49 min
May 8, 8:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDavidson, Montgomery, Randolph, Stanly43 min
May 8, 8:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDavidson, Guilford, Randolph43 min
May 8, 8:59 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPAlexander, Caldwell32 min
May 8, 9:12 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHGuilford, Randolph33 min
May 8, 9:13 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPAlexander, Iredell47 min
May 8, 9:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham, Granville, Person52 min
May 8, 9:49 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDavidson, Forsyth56 min
May 8, 9:50 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPDavie, Iredell, Rowan40 min
May 8, 10:16 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHDavidson, Forsyth44 min
May 8, 10:28 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPDavie47 min
May 8, 10:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDavidson, Forsyth, Guilford47 min
May 8, 11:09 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHDavidson, Forsyth, Guilford51 min
May 8, 11:31 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHDavidson, Forsyth, Guilford3 hr
May 8, 11:34 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHAlamance, Guilford41 min
May 9, 12:00 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHForsyth, Guilford45 min
May 9, 12:11 AM EDTTornado WarningRAHAlamance, Guilford49 min
May 9, 12:54 AM EDTTornado WarningRAHGranville, Person36 min
May 9, 12:57 AM EDTTornado WarningRAHAlamance19 min
May 9, 1:28 AM EDTTornado WarningRAHGranville, Person47 min
May 9, 1:47 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHPerson28 min
May 9, 2:25 AM EDTTornado WarningGSPCabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Rowan35 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 224 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2008-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 29 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 2008-05-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 182 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
29 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-92 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
977 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
182 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 8, 2:22 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 10 more83 min
May 8, 6:12 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alleghany, Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Person and 5 more63 min
May 8, 6:48 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and 3 more9 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2008Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2008Every tornado watch 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.