Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 353

March 24, 201215 counties in North Carolina; 25 counties in Virginia; 14 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 24, 2012, 6:58 PM EDT for 15 counties in North Carolina; 25 counties in Virginia; 14 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 92 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 24, 2012, 6:58 PM EDT (22:58 UTC)
Expired: Mar 24, 2012, 8:30 PM EDT
In force: 92 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 54 counties

Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Union County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Albemarle County, VA, Alleghany County, VA, Augusta County, VA, Bath County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Harrisonburg, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Salem, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, Craig County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Highland County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Rockingham County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Braxton County, WV, Calhoun County, WV, Clay County, WV, Fayette County, WV, Greenbrier County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pendleton County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Randolph County, WV, Summers County, WV, Upshur County, WV, Webster County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 31 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 100 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 250 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 519 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -13 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.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
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, 4:16 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Iredell, Mecklenburg and 6 more	59 min
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, 7:34 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and 23 more	116 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, 2012 Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2012 Mesoscale Discussions in West Virginia, 2012 Every 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.