Alert archive / Oregon / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 2121

November 20, 2012Clatsop County, Lincoln County, Tillamook County, Oregon; Pacific County, Washington

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Nov 20, 2012, 10:51 AM PST for Clatsop County, Lincoln County, Tillamook County, Oregon; Pacific County, Washington. It was in force for 114 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Nov 20, 2012, 10:51 AM PST (18:51 UTC)
Expired
Nov 20, 2012, 12:45 PM PST
In force
114 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
5%

Counties Clatsop County, OR, Lincoln County, OR, Tillamook County, OR, Pacific County, WA

The radar

The Portland,OR radar (KRTX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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 nearest sounding before it

Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 102 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, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 12:00Z on 2012-11-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 6 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, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 12:00Z on 2012-11-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 201 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
512 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
92 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
201 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
199 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.

229 
ACUS11 KWNS 201852
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 201851
ORZ000-WAZ000-202045-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2121
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1251 PM CST TUE NOV 20 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...COASTAL SWRN WA AND COASTAL NWRN ORE

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY

VALID 201851Z - 202045Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...5 PERCENT

SUMMARY...A STRONG CONVECTIVE BAND AROUND 30 NM OFFSHORE IS FORECAST
TO REACH THE COAST AROUND 1930Z AND POSE A THREAT FOR STRONG
WINDS...PERHAPS LOCALLY REACHING SVR THRESHOLDS. A WW IS NOT NEEDED
OWING TO ONLY SPORADIC SVR COVERAGE...AT MOST.

DISCUSSION...AS A FRONT CONTINUES APPROACHING THE COAST...COMING
INTO CLOSER RANGE OF THE LANGLEY HILL WA RDA...RADAR DATA REVEAL A
NEARLY CONTINUOUS ARC OF LOW-TOPPED FRONTAL CONVECTION OFF THE COAST
FROM GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY TO TILLAMOOK COUNTY. MORE
DISCRETE/SEMI-DISCRETE CONVECTION LIES JUST NORTH OF THE LINE AND
AHEAD OF THE LINE. CURRENT EXTRAPOLATION TAKES THE PRIMARY
CONVECTIVE ARC TO THE COAST AROUND 1930Z...AS IT POSSESSES A
SHOREWARD COMPONENT OF MOTION AROUND 30 KNOTS. VISIBLE SATELLITE
IMAGERY INDICATES A NARROW AXIS OF MODEST INSOLATION AHEAD OF THE
CONVECTIVE ARC TO SUPPORT MARGINAL DESTABILIZATION. MODIFIED NAM
SOUNDINGS WHERE INSOLATION-DRIVEN BOUNDARY-LAYER HEATING HAS
OCCURRED SUGGEST THAT MLCAPE VALUES OF 400-800 J/KG WILL IMPACT
INLAND LOCATIONS. AND...WITH LANGLEY HILLS VWP DATA INDICATING
STRONG LOW-LEVEL AND DEEP SHEAR /E.G. 0-1-KM BULK SHEAR MAGNITUDE OF
44 KT/...CONVECTIVE ORGANIZATION WILL LIKELY BE MAINTAINED TO THE
COAST. WHILE SOME VEERING OF THE NEAR-SFC FLOW WILL OCCUR AS THE
FRONT APPROACHES...DOWNWARD MOMENTUM TRANSFER IN CONVECTION MAY
SUPPORT AN ISOLATED SVR WIND GUST OR TWO.

..COHEN/BUNTING.. 11/20/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...SEW...PQR...

LAT...LON   44732400 45432402 46272408 47372424 47032376 46152353
            45252351 44502374 44392402 44732400

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Oregon, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Washington, 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.