Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 392

July 3, 201426 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 3, 2014, 9:49 PM EDT for 26 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 3, 2014, 9:49 PM EDT (01:49 UTC)
Expired: Jul 4, 2014, 4:09 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 0.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 26 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:48 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: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
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: 60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 10:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Chowan, Pasquotank, Perquimans	23 min
Jul 3, 10:46 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Bertie, Chowan, Hertford	30 min
Jul 3, 10:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Chowan, Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank, Perquimans	28 min
Jul 3, 11:36 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Edgecombe, Halifax	3 hr
Jul 4, 2:20 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Edgecombe, Halifax	115 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 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 113 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: 683 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 600 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 241 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 262 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

571 
WWUS20 KWNS 040149
SEL2  
SPC WW 040149
NCZ000-CWZ000-041200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 392
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
950 PM EDT THU JUL 3 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
  COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 950 PM
  UNTIL 800 AM EDT.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 70 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTH OF ELIZABETH
CITY NORTH CAROLINA TO 50 MILES SOUTHEAST OF NEW BERN NORTH
CAROLINA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 390...WW 391...

DISCUSSION...HURRICANE ARTHUR CONTINUES TO TRACK NORTHEASTWARD ALONG
THE NC COAST.  SMALL ROTATING STORMS EMBEDDED IN THE OUTER BANDS OF
THE HURRICANE WILL POSE A RISK OF TORNADOES OVERNIGHT ACROSS EASTERN
NC.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 0.5 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
400. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 16045.


...HART

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 9:23 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan and 26 more	67 min
Jul 4, 1:01 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Currituck and 10 more	119 min
Jul 4, 3:58 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Currituck	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2014 Every 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.