Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2009
Tornado Watch 256
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2009, 2:16 PM EDT for 58 counties in North Carolina; 13 counties in South Carolina; 51 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 6, 2009, 2:16 PM EDT (18:16 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 2009, 8:36 PM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 122 counties
Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Anson County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Camden County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Gates County, NC, Granville County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Orange County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Person County, NC, Polk County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC, Amelia County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Poquoson, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Henry County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mathews County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Middlesex County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, York County, VA
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:20 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
- 40%
- 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
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
Warnings issued inside it
37 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenville | 45 min |
| May 6, 3:09 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Catawba, Lincoln | 21 min |
| May 6, 3:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Wilson | 51 min |
| May 6, 4:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Halifax | 40 min |
| May 6, 4:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Johnston, Wayne, Wilson | 48 min |
| May 6, 4:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenville | 48 min |
| May 6, 4:19 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cleveland | 41 min |
| May 6, 4:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Hertford | 38 min |
| May 6, 4:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Nash, Wilson | 39 min |
| May 6, 4:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Bertie, Hertford, Northampton | 32 min |
| May 6, 4:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Spartanburg | 61 min |
| May 6, 5:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Catawba, Iredell | 8 min |
| May 6, 5:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Isle of Wight, City of Suffolk | 27 min |
| May 6, 5:03 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Catawba, Iredell | 42 min |
| May 6, 5:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Gates, Hertford, Northampton | 52 min |
| May 6, 5:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Anderson | 37 min |
| May 6, 5:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash | 50 min |
| May 6, 5:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Davidson, Guilford, Randolph | 49 min |
| May 6, 5:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Gates | 43 min |
| May 6, 5:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens | 65 min |
| May 6, 5:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Davie, Iredell, Rowan | 10 min |
| May 6, 5:36 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Davie, Iredell, Rowan | 39 min |
| May 6, 5:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Abbeville | 46 min |
| May 6, 5:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry, Sussex, City of Franklin, City of Suffolk | 42 min |
| May 6, 5:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Laurens, Spartanburg, Union | 68 min |
| May 6, 5:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Isle of Wight, City of Chesapeake, City of Norfolk, City of Portsmouth, City of Suffolk, City of Virginia Beach | 50 min |
| May 6, 5:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Davidson, Forsyth | 48 min |
| May 6, 6:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Davie, Rowan | 25 min |
| May 6, 6:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Guilford, Randolph | 34 min |
| May 6, 6:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Davidson | 24 min |
| May 6, 6:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cherokee, Chester, York | 67 min |
| May 6, 6:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Southampton, Sussex | 22 min |
| May 6, 6:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance, Orange | 27 min |
| May 6, 6:39 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Forsyth, Guilford | 51 min |
| May 6, 6:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Franklin, Henry, Pittsylvania | 19 min |
| May 6, 7:18 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 30 min |
| May 6, 8:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Mecklenburg | 52 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
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 14 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
- 450 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 88 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 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 5, 8:43 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anson, Bertie, Chatham, Chowan, Cumberland, Durham and 30 more | 62 min |
| May 6, 8:47 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Scotland | 88 min |
| May 6, 11:40 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Cleveland and 32 more | 2 hr |
| May 6, 7:29 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Bertie, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham and 40 more | 91 min |
| May 6, 10:27 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Anderson, Oconee, Pickens | 9 hr |
| May 6, 2:57 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Abbeville | 93 min |
| May 6, 5:47 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Colleton and 9 more | 58 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2009Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2009Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2009Every tornado watch in 2009
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.