Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012
Mesoscale Discussion 155
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Feb 24, 2012, 12:00 PM EST for 6 states. It was in force for 60 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 24, 2012, 12:00 PM EST (17:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 24, 2012, 1:00 PM EST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 84 counties
Fannin County, GA, Rabun County, GA, Towns County, GA, Union County, GA, Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cherokee County, NC, Clay County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Graham County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Macon County, NC, Madison County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Cherokee County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Carter County, TN, Cocke County, TN, Greene County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Washington County, TN, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Carroll County, VA, City of Bristol, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Mercer County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Summers County, WV
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:04 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, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 192 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
- 150 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -118 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 742 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 271 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 345 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
872 ACUS11 KWNS 241700 SWOMCD SPC MCD 241700 VAZ000-NCZ000-WVZ000-SCZ000-TNZ000-GAZ000-241800- MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0155 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1100 AM CST FRI FEB 24 2012 AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS OF THE CNTRL APPALACHIANS INTO CNTRL VA/NC CONCERNING...TORNADO WATCH 36... VALID 241700Z - 241800Z THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR TORNADO WATCH 36 CONTINUES. ...NEW TORNADO WATCH WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED ACROSS THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS... STRONG FORCING IS BEGINNING TO OVERSPREAD THE CNTRL APPALACHIANS...PER POST FRONTAL BAND OF WEAK SHOWERS THAT ARE EXPANDING FROM SRN OH/ERN KY INTO WV/WRN VA. DOWNSTREAM...CONVECTION IS SLOWLY INTENSIFYING OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS ALONG THE VA/WV BORDER...SWWD ALONG A SHARPENING SURGING FRONTAL ZONE. LATEST OA FIELDS EXHIBIT VERY STEEP LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT ACROSS VA/NC WHERE SFC-3KM VALUES ARE NOW APPROACHING 8C/KM. IT APPEARS BOUNDARY LAYER PARCELS ARE NEARING THEIR CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURES WITH READINGS WELL INTO THE MID 70S ACROSS LOWER ELEVATIONS. LATEST THINKING IS FRONTAL CONVECTION WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY AS IT PROGRESSES EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS SUPPORTED IN THE LARGE SCALE BY STRONG FORCING AHEAD OF DEEPENING TROUGH. ..DARROW.. 02/24/2012 ...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT... ATTN...WFO...AKQ...LWX...RAH...RNK...RLX...GSP...MRX...FFC... LAT...LON 34808471 37798091 37787797 34818188 34808471
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 6:56 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Butts and 79 more | 94 min |
| Feb 24, 8:48 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Burke and 64 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 9:17 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Rabun, Stephens | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 10:49 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Burke, Butts, Calhoun and 57 more | 56 min |
| Feb 24, 12:04 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 52 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 1:50 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill and 86 more | 85 min |
| Feb 24, 3:24 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fannin, Rabun, Towns, Union | 66 min |
| Feb 24, 4:11 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 56 more | 64 min |
| Feb 24, 9:05 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 29 more | 25 min |
| Feb 24, 11:10 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and 1 more | 65 min |
| Feb 24, 12:43 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 51 more | 92 min |
| Feb 24, 1:19 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 55 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 4:45 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden and 51 more | 90 min |
| Feb 23, 10:46 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheatham, Clay, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett and 5 more | 89 min |
| Feb 24, 2:00 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Claiborne and 31 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Tennessee, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012
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.