Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 283
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 2008, 8:38 PM EDT for 7 counties in North Carolina; 35 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 8, 2008, 8:38 PM EDT (00:38 UTC)
- Expired
- May 9, 2008, 3:01 AM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 42 counties
Durham County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Granville County, NC, Lee County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Amelia County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Richmond, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King George County, VA, King William County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Sussex County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:40 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
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 50%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
Warnings issued inside it
14 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 9:13 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Louisa | 33 min |
| May 8, 9:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Durham, Granville, Person | 52 min |
| May 8, 9:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford | 47 min |
| May 8, 10:02 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | LWX | Culpeper, Fauquier, Orange, Spotsylvania, Stafford | 28 min |
| May 8, 10:32 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | LWX | Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Stafford, City of Fredericksburg | 43 min |
| May 8, 11:33 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | LWX | Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford | 42 min |
| May 8, 11:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Culpeper, Spotsylvania, Stafford, City of Fredericksburg | 52 min |
| May 9, 12:46 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | King George, Spotsylvania, Stafford, City of Fredericksburg | 44 min |
| May 9, 12:50 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Lunenburg, Mecklenburg | 40 min |
| May 9, 12:54 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Granville, Person | 36 min |
| May 9, 1:28 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Granville, Person | 47 min |
| May 9, 1:35 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg | 40 min |
| May 9, 2:15 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Sussex, City of Emporia | 45 min |
| May 9, 2:29 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Mecklenburg | 31 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 00:00Z, 0.6 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 196 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1306 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 98 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 288 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.6
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 9:47 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Davie and 20 more | 58 min |
| May 9, 12:06 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Caswell, Durham, Granville, Guilford, Orange and 2 more | 54 min |
| May 9, 2:32 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Bertie, Camden, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan and 27 more | 88 min |
| May 9, 3:00 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Caswell, Chatham and 34 more | 8 hr |
| May 9, 5:04 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bertie, Camden, Chatham, Chowan, Currituck, Durham and 25 more | 56 min |
| May 9, 5:56 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brunswick, Columbus | 2 hr |
| May 9, 6:37 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Edgecombe, Franklin and 11 more | 53 min |
| May 9, 8:29 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 18 more | 61 min |
| May 9, 7:18 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dickenson, Lee, Scott, Wise, City of Norton | 57 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2008Tornado Watches in North 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.