Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 390

July 3, 201418 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 3, 2014, 1:24 PM EDT for 18 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 3, 2014, 1:24 PM EDT (17:24 UTC)
Expired
Jul 3, 2014, 9:53 PM EDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
0.5 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt

Counties Beaufort County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:25 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
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
40%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
5%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
40%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 3, 4:06 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXDuplin39 min
Jul 3, 4:21 PM EDTTornado WarningILMBladen, Pender13 min
Jul 3, 7:27 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXBeaufort, Martin, Washington33 min
Jul 3, 8:30 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXMartin45 min
Jul 3, 8:57 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXHyde, Washington48 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 28 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2014-07-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1772 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2014-07-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 75 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1772 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
745 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 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
Jul 3, 11:31 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarteret, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender2 hr
Jul 3, 4:09 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde and 7 more2 hr

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.