Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 890
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 6, 2008, 4:45 AM EDT for 4 counties in Maryland; 21 counties in North Carolina; 25 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 6, 2008, 4:45 AM EDT (08:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 6, 2008, 1:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 50 counties
Dorchester County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Wicomico County, MD, Worcester County, MD, Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Martin County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Accomack County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Poquoson, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, Lancaster County, VA, Mathews County, VA, Middlesex County, VA, Northampton County, VA, Northumberland County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, York County, VA
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:45 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
- 10%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 40%
Warnings issued inside it
1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6, 4:53 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Wayne, Wilson | 6 hr |
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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 261 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
- 948 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 664 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 152 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 185 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 4.5
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6, 4:22 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Frederick | 3 hr |
| Sep 6, 8:40 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester | 2 hr |
| Sep 6, 11:09 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester | 66 min |
| Sep 5, 9:06 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 35 more | 114 min |
| Sep 6, 3:33 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 21 more | 87 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2008Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2008Tornado Watches in Maryland, 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.