Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 931

May 24, 20114 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 24, 2011, 3:33 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 87 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 2011, 3:33 PM EDT (19:33 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 2011, 5:00 PM EDT
In force
87 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 75 counties

Harlan County, KY, Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Granville County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Carter County, TN, Greene County, TN, Hancock County, TN, Hawkins County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Washington County, TN, Brunswick County, VA, Carroll County, VA, City of Bristol, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Norton, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, Floyd County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, Lee County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Russell County, VA, Scott County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Sussex County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wise County, VA, Wythe County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:35 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, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 27 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 2011-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 451 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 2011-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
451 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-124 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1350 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

070 
ACUS11 KWNS 241934
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 241933
NCZ000-VAZ000-TNZ000-KYZ000-242100-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0931
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0233 PM CDT TUE MAY 24 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...SRN VA...NRN NC

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 354...355...357...

VALID 241933Z - 242100Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
354...355...357...CONTINUES.

WW 354 IS SCHEDULED TO EXPIRE AT 21Z. COORDINATION WITH WFO RNK AND
ADJACENT WFOS WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 20-21Z TO DISCUSS THE NEED FOR WW
REPLACEMENT OR TEMPORAL EXTENSION OF THE EXISTING WW.

WELL-DEFINED OUTFLOW BOUNDARY REMAINS REFLECTED IN VISIBLE SATELLITE
AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS TRAILING WEST TO EAST IN THE WAKE OF AN
INITIAL MCS PROGRESSING ACROSS SERN VA/FAR NERN NC. ROBUST TSTM
DEVELOPMENT HAS RECENTLY OCCURRED JUST N OF THIS BOUNDARY WHERE
LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE/UPSLOPE IS MAXIMIZED IN FAR NWRN NC. THIS
ACTIVITY ALONG WITH NUMEROUS UPSTREAM CLUSTERS WITHIN WW 357 WILL
LIKELY POSE A CONTINUED RISK FOR PRIMARILY SEVERE WIND/HAIL GIVEN
THE DEGREE OF HEATING /TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE 80S TO LOWER 90S/
THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE TO THE S OF THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY.

..GRAMS.. 05/24/2011

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

ATTN...WFO...AKQ...MHX...RAH...RNK...RLX...GSP...MRX...JKL...

LAT...LON   36638378 36948344 37038213 36857823 36987672 36877626
            36597614 36317628 35867711 35747795 35657897 35658012
            35738073 35818156 36018232 36278315 36638378

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 8:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBath, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Greenup and 6 more3 hr
May 23, 8:47 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Allen, Barren, Butler, Caldwell, Christian and 21 more58 min
May 24, 6:24 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Casey, Clay and 18 more96 min
May 24, 7:01 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Breathitt, Casey and 38 more8 hr
May 24, 8:34 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBell, Breathitt, Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson and 13 more116 min
May 24, 12:55 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Clay, Clinton and 15 more65 min
May 24, 1:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Clay, Clinton and 14 more6 hr
May 24, 4:27 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBell, Harlan, Letcher, Whitley63 min
May 24, 10:00 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and 3 more7 hr
May 24, 12:15 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Bertie, Camden, Caswell, Chowan, Durham and 24 more90 min
May 24, 12:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlamance, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Durham and 20 more5 hr
May 24, 4:43 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Alleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford and 8 more5 hr
May 24, 7:33 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Durham, Forsyth and 11 more57 min
May 24, 7:46 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne and 26 more59 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in Tennessee, 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.