Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2010

Tornado Watch 741

November 16, 201051 counties in North Carolina; 17 counties in South Carolina; 67 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 16, 2010, 8:47 PM EST for 51 counties in North Carolina; 17 counties in South Carolina; 67 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Nov 16, 2010, 8:47 PM EST (01:47 UTC)
Expired
Nov 17, 2010, 2:59 AM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
0.5 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 135 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Anson County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Cumberland 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, Hertford County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Union County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC, Albemarle County, VA, Amelia County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Augusta County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Henry County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King William County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Nelson County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:47 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
10%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
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
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 16, 8:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKRockingham, Stokes64 min
Nov 16, 9:24 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCatawba, Lincoln36 min
Nov 16, 9:40 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPDavie35 min
Nov 16, 9:41 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEAiken, Edgefield, Fairfield, Lancaster, Lexington, McCormick and 3 more64 min
Nov 16, 9:41 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKAmherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell, Franklin, Halifax and 2 more64 min
Nov 16, 9:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPDavie, Iredell, Rowan35 min
Nov 16, 9:57 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHForsyth34 min
Nov 16, 9:57 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKCaswell, Rockingham, Stokes93 min
Nov 16, 10:26 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHGuilford34 min
Nov 16, 10:29 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKCharlotte, Halifax, Pittsylvania, City of Danville77 min
Nov 16, 10:32 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKAppomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte59 min
Nov 16, 10:38 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEAiken, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Richland67 min
Nov 16, 11:06 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQFluvanna, Louisa54 min
Nov 16, 11:07 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham, Orange23 min
Nov 16, 11:27 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQCumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Hanover, Louisa, Powhatan48 min
Nov 16, 11:36 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham, Franklin, Granville, Vance, Wake39 min
Nov 16, 11:41 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and 1 more49 min
Nov 16, 11:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHGranville, Vance, Warren32 min
Nov 17, 12:00 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQCaroline45 min
Nov 17, 12:12 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin, Vance, Wake, Warren15 min
Nov 17, 12:16 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Hoke, Scotland44 min
Nov 17, 12:18 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin, Harnett, Johnston, Nash, Wake, Wilson42 min
Nov 17, 12:23 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin, Halifax, Nash, Wake, Warren52 min
Nov 17, 12:29 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQChesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince George, City of Colonial Heights, City of Hopewell, City of Petersburg61 min
Nov 17, 12:34 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQBertie, Hertford, Northampton41 min
Nov 17, 12:47 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen, Robeson43 min
Nov 17, 12:52 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Wilson38 min
Nov 17, 1:03 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Sampson42 min
Nov 17, 1:07 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHHalifax, Nash27 min
Nov 17, 1:20 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQCharles City, Prince George, Surry, Sussex40 min
Nov 17, 1:24 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQGates, Hertford, Northampton51 min
Nov 17, 1:43 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQCharles City, Gloucester, James City, King and Queen, King William, Mathews and 4 more48 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 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 62 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2010-11-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 93 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2010-11-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 281 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
93 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
572 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
281 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 16, 7:34 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alexander, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 27 more116 min
Nov 16, 11:27 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, Edgecombe and 21 more2 hr
Nov 17, 12:06 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, King George, Loudoun, Prince William and 8 more4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2010Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2010Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2010Every tornado watch in 2010

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.