Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012
Mesoscale Discussion 348
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 24, 2012, 4:16 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 59 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 24, 2012, 4:16 PM EDT (20:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 24, 2012, 5:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 59 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 47 counties
Richmond County, GA, Cabarrus County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Union County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Aiken County, SC, Chester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, York County, SC, Alleghany County, VA, Bath County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Braxton County, WV, Gilmer County, WV, Greenbrier County, WV, Lewis County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Randolph County, WV, Upshur County, WV, Webster County, WV
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:17 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, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 94 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
- 226 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 526 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 167 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 153 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
650
ACUS11 KWNS 242017
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 242016
VAZ000-WVZ000-NCZ000-SCZ000-GAZ000-242115-
MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0348
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0316 PM CDT SAT MAR 24 2012
AREAS AFFECTED...SRN/ERN WV...WRN VA/NC/SC
CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 105...106...107...
VALID 242016Z - 242115Z
THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
105...106...107...CONTINUES.
ARCING BAND OF DISCRETE AND CLUSTER TSTMS FROM SRN WV TO WRN SC WILL
LIKELY DEVELOP EWD TOWARDS THE VA/CAROLINA PIEDMONT. PORTIONS OF WW
105 WERE RECENTLY UPGRADED TO TORNADO WATCH 108 WHERE THE RELATIVELY
GREATEST TORNADO RISK SHOULD LIE WITHIN THIS BAND.
WITH SWRN EXTENT IN THE WRN CAROLINAS...MORE UNIDIRECTIONAL
LOW-LEVEL SWLYS SAMPLED BY THE CAE/GSP VWP DATA AND LARGER SURFACE
TEMPERATURE/DEW POINT SPREADS SHOULD MITIGATE TORNADIC POTENTIAL
HERE. HOWEVER...IN THE MIDST OF 40-50 KT EFFECTIVE SHEAR...SPLITTING
SUPERCELLS WILL REMAIN CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SEVERE HAIL/WIND. SEVERE
THREAT APPEARS TO BE DIMINISHING IN AREAS WEST OF THE ARCING BAND OF
STRONG TO SEVERE TSTMS AS SURFACE DEW POINTS HAVE MIXED INTO THE
40S.
WITH NRN EXTENT IN SRN/ERN WV AND PARTS OF WRN VA...CONVECTION HAS
LARGELY STRUGGLED TO MAINTAIN ROBUST UPDRAFTS N OF AN OUTFLOW
BOUNDARY ACROSS SWRN TO CNTRL VA. ALTHOUGH DEEP-LAYER SHEAR IS
STRONG...VEER-BACK WIND PROFILES ALONG WITH LESSER INSTABILITY
RELATIVE TO AREAS FARTHER S SUGGEST OCCURRENCES OF SEVERE HAIL/WIND
SHOULD BE MORE MARGINAL/SPORADIC.
..GRAMS.. 03/24/2012
...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...
ATTN...WFO...LWX...RAH...RNK...RLX...CAE...GSP...
LAT...LON 33728235 34468161 35378103 37148049 38578096 38858104
39138083 39198024 39007977 37907948 35958013 34858019
34208065 33598125 33188165 33318207 33728235SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 10:16 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Berrien, Brantley, Bryan and 25 more | 59 min |
| Mar 24, 10:45 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch and 23 more | 8 hr |
| Mar 24, 12:29 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Bryan, Bulloch and 19 more | 61 min |
| Mar 24, 4:19 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Glynn and 6 more | 86 min |
| Mar 24, 5:52 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chattooga, Dade, Walker | 53 min |
| Mar 24, 6:25 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brantley, Bryan, Camden, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch and 8 more | 65 min |
| Mar 24, 12:03 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell and 20 more | 117 min |
| Mar 24, 12:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery and 33 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 24, 2:31 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell and 4 more | 59 min |
| Mar 24, 2:54 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and 1 more | 66 min |
| Mar 24, 3:38 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson and 30 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 24, 6:03 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 24 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 24, 6:43 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Caswell, Rockingham | 4 hr |
| Mar 24, 6:58 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba and 9 more | 92 min |
| Mar 24, 7:34 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and 23 more | 116 min |
| Mar 24, 1:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley and 32 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 24, 7:21 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston and 17 more | 84 min |
| Mar 24, 3:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Albemarle, Alleghany, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Bath and 13 more | 5 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 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.