Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 2136

September 5, 201119 counties in North Carolina; 18 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Sep 5, 2011, 5:52 PM EDT for 19 counties in North Carolina; 18 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 53 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Sep 5, 2011, 5:52 PM EDT (21:52 UTC)
Expired
Sep 5, 2011, 6:45 PM EDT
In force
53 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Durham County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Granville County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Carroll County, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Wythe County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:51 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.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 45 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 12:00Z on 2011-09-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 109 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 12:00Z on 2011-09-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 62 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
109 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
689 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

521 
ACUS11 KWNS 052152
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 052152 
NCZ000-VAZ000-052245-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2136
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0452 PM CDT MON SEP 05 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...WRN NC/VA

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 052152Z - 052245Z

A TORNADO THREAT APPEARS TO BE INCREASING ACROSS PORTIONS OF WRN NC
AND VA. A WW IS BEING CONSIDERED. 

VAD WIND PROFILE DATA SHOWS INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE DEEP-LAYER SHEAR
IN ADVANCE OF THE REMNANTS OF T.D. LEE...WITH ABOUT 350 M2/S2 0-3 KM
SRH. A WEAK W-E BOUNDARY APPEARS TO BE ORIENTED ACROSS CNTRL
NC...FROM N OF CLT EWD TO GSB...LOCALLY INCREASING LOW LEVEL SRH
NEAR THE BOUNDARY. STRONGER MESOCYCLONES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED
RECENTLY...AND A LIMITED TEMPORAL THREAT OF TORNADOES MAY BE
POSSIBLE BEFORE THE ONSET OF DIURNAL COOLING AND ASSOCIATED
STABILIZATION OF THE BOUNDARY LAYER. AS SUCH...A WW MAY NEED TO BE
CONSIDERED.

..HURLBUT.. 09/05/2011

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...AKQ...RAH...RNK...

LAT...LON   35837811 35617895 36058043 36218161 36798135 37328057
            37387964 36707880 36167813 35837811

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 5, 3:42 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland and 11 more7 hr
Sep 5, 5:48 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin and 19 more87 min
Sep 5, 6:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAnson, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery and 5 more4 hr
Sep 5, 6:29 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Alleghany, Caswell, Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford and 6 more10 hr
Sep 5, 7:37 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Caswell and 24 more113 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2011Every mesoscale discussion in 2011

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.