Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 117

April 29, 201444 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 29, 2014, 2:27 PM EDT for 44 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 29, 2014, 2:27 PM EDT (18:27 UTC)
Expired
Apr 29, 2014, 10:40 PM EDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 44 counties

Anson County, NC, Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Dare County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Wake County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 10 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:28 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

37 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 29, 3:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHHarnett, Johnston43 min
Apr 29, 3:39 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Sampson51 min
Apr 29, 3:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWilson44 min
Apr 29, 3:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Sampson44 min
Apr 29, 3:55 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHCumberland, Sampson50 min
Apr 29, 4:00 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHWilson30 min
Apr 29, 4:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Harnett, Hoke52 min
Apr 29, 4:24 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHCumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Sampson51 min
Apr 29, 4:30 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHJohnston, Sampson45 min
Apr 29, 4:31 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHWilson29 min
Apr 29, 4:34 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHEdgecombe, Wilson26 min
Apr 29, 4:35 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHJohnston, Wayne, Wilson40 min
Apr 29, 5:00 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHEdgecombe, Wilson45 min
Apr 29, 5:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Sampson, Wayne37 min
Apr 29, 5:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWayne, Wilson46 min
Apr 29, 5:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXGreene, Pitt43 min
Apr 29, 5:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Harnett, Sampson43 min
Apr 29, 5:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHCumberland3 hr
Apr 29, 5:43 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHWilson3 hr
Apr 29, 5:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe60 min
Apr 29, 5:49 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHEdgecombe56 min
Apr 29, 5:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXBeaufort, Greene, Martin, Pitt51 min
Apr 29, 6:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWayne52 min
Apr 29, 6:09 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXMartin, Pitt36 min
Apr 29, 6:09 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHEdgecombe3 hr
Apr 29, 6:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Sampson46 min
Apr 29, 6:32 PM EDTTornado WarningAKQBertie43 min
Apr 29, 7:09 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQBertie, Hertford51 min
Apr 29, 7:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland, Sampson50 min
Apr 29, 7:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXBeaufort, Greene, Lenoir, Martin, Pitt42 min
Apr 29, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHSampson60 min
Apr 29, 7:33 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHSampson42 min
Apr 29, 7:43 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXGreene, Pitt47 min
Apr 29, 7:52 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHSampson38 min
Apr 29, 8:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWayne44 min
Apr 29, 8:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXGreene, Lenoir, Pitt39 min
Apr 29, 9:00 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXGreene, Lenoir, Pitt45 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 125 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 2014-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2014-04-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 478 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
478 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
540 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 28, 10:34 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCherokee, Graham86 min
Apr 28, 11:29 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBuncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon and 2 more61 min
Apr 29, 12:20 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and 1 more85 min
Apr 29, 12:30 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCBuncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson and 10 more7 hr
Apr 29, 1:26 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Anson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 40 more94 min
Apr 29, 4:38 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Carteret, Chowan and 27 more97 min
Apr 29, 7:22 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Cumberland and 26 more53 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2014Every tornado watch in 2014

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.