Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 44

March 29, 201432 counties in North Carolina; Dillon County, Marlboro County, South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 29, 2014, 8:08 PM EDT for 32 counties in North Carolina; Dillon County, Marlboro County, South Carolina. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 29, 2014, 8:08 PM EDT (00:08 UTC)
Expired: Mar 30, 2014, 12:08 AM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 34 counties

Bertie County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Granville County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Marlboro County, SC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:10 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: 30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 10%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 40%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 29, 8:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett	36 min
Mar 29, 8:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett, Johnston, Wake	45 min
Mar 29, 9:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Wake	40 min
Mar 29, 9:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin, Nash, Wake	43 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 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 33 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

524 
WWUS20 KWNS 300007
SEL4  
SPC WW 300007
NCZ000-SCZ000-300500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 44
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
805 PM EDT SAT MAR 29 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
  NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA

* EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 805 PM
  UNTIL 100 AM EDT.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  SEVERAL TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  SEVERAL DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE
  A FEW LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 50 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF
FAYETTEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA TO 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF ROANOKE
RAPIDS NORTH CAROLINA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE
THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).

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 43...

DISCUSSION...A FEW TSTMS EXPECTED TO PERSIST/FORM ALONG SSW-NNE
CONFLUENCE ZONE NOW NEAR THE I-95 CORRIDOR IN NE SC AND ERN NC AS
STRONG HEIGHT FALLS/ASCENT ON LEADING EDGE OF AMPLIFYING TN VLY
TROUGH OVERSPREAD REGION. ASSOCIATED STRENGTHENING OF DEEP SHEAR AND
MODEST SLY SFC FLOW MAY SUPPORT A FEW CELLS WITH LOW-LVL
MESOCYCLONES AND A CONDITIONAL RISK FOR A TORNADO OR TWO...IN
ADDITION TO MARGINALLY SVR HAIL/WIND.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23040.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 29, 10:42 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Warren	93 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2014 Tornado Watches in South 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.