Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 309
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2008, 4:43 PM EDT for 29 counties in North Carolina; 11 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 11, 2008, 4:43 PM EDT (20:43 UTC)
- Expired
- May 11, 2008, 10:33 PM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 70 kt
All 40 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, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Pender County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King William County, VA
The radar
The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:46 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
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 40%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
35 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 4:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Columbus | 48 min |
| May 11, 5:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, New Hanover, Pender | 47 min |
| May 11, 5:37 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Duplin | 38 min |
| May 11, 5:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover | 25 min |
| May 11, 5:58 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Hertford, Northampton | 47 min |
| May 11, 6:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Jones, Onslow | 44 min |
| May 11, 6:11 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Duplin, Jones, Onslow | 34 min |
| May 11, 6:13 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Hertford | 47 min |
| May 11, 6:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Charles City, Isle of Wight, James City, New Kent, Prince George, Southampton and 6 more | 44 min |
| May 11, 6:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Jones, Onslow | 43 min |
| May 11, 6:41 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Chowan, Hertford | 33 min |
| May 11, 6:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Craven, Jones, Onslow | 42 min |
| May 11, 6:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Craven | 36 min |
| May 11, 7:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Martin | 26 min |
| May 11, 7:05 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Chowan, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans | 40 min |
| May 11, 7:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Isle of Wight, City of Suffolk | 27 min |
| May 11, 7:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Chowan, Pasquotank, Perquimans | 43 min |
| May 11, 7:27 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank | 48 min |
| May 11, 7:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Onslow | 48 min |
| May 11, 7:31 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven, Pamlico | 44 min |
| May 11, 7:31 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Craven, Jones, Onslow | 44 min |
| May 11, 7:36 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Onslow | 39 min |
| May 11, 7:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank | 29 min |
| May 11, 7:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Martin, Washington | 32 min |
| May 11, 7:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Robeson | 45 min |
| May 11, 7:47 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Currituck | 28 min |
| May 11, 7:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Carteret | 35 min |
| May 11, 8:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Currituck | 15 min |
| May 11, 8:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Pender | 42 min |
| May 11, 8:04 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven | 26 min |
| May 11, 8:18 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Onslow | 42 min |
| May 11, 8:31 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Hyde | 29 min |
| May 11, 8:32 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Onslow | 43 min |
| May 11, 8:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Hyde, Tyrrell, Washington | 54 min |
| May 11, 9:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Dare | 24 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
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 111 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 935 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 9:34 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Graham, Haywood, Madison and 4 more | 26 min |
| May 11, 9:52 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood and 8 more | 6 hr |
| May 11, 1:39 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 49 more | 2 hr |
| May 11, 2:07 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Caswell and 43 more | 6 hr |
| May 11, 2:33 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ashe, Watauga | 57 min |
| May 11, 4:18 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Chatham, Chowan, Cumberland and 26 more | 87 min |
| May 11, 7:30 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan and 20 more | 90 min |
| May 11, 7:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham and 20 more | 3 hr |
| May 11, 11:10 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell and 4 more | 95 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2008Tornado Watches in Virginia, 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.