Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 7

January 11, 201425 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 11, 2014, 2:30 PM EST for 25 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 11, 2014, 2:30 PM EST (19:30 UTC)
Expired: Jan 11, 2014, 6:00 PM EST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 0.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 25 counties

Charles City County, VA, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hampton, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Newport News, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Poquoson, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Greensville County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Northampton County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, York County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:30 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: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
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: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 11, 2:38 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Charles City, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, King William, New Kent	37 min
Jan 11, 3:03 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Surry, Sussex	27 min
Jan 11, 3:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Isle of Wight, James City, York, City of Chesapeake, City of Hampton, City of Newport News and 5 more	43 min
Jan 11, 3:37 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Isle of Wight, City of Hampton, City of Newport News, City of Norfolk, City of Poquoson, City of Portsmouth and 1 more	23 min
Jan 11, 4:03 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Accomack, Northampton	27 min
Jan 11, 4:14 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	City of Chesapeake, City of Virginia Beach	31 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

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 133 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 536 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 210 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.

334 
WWUS20 KWNS 111930
SEL7  
SPC WW 111930
NCZ000-VAZ000-CWZ000-120100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 7
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
230 PM EST SAT JAN 11 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA
  SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA
  COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 230 PM UNTIL
  800 PM EST.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  SEVERAL TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  SEVERAL DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 45 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES NORTH OF NORFOLK
VIRGINIA TO 35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NORFOLK VIRGINIA.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).

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 1...WW 2...WW 3...WW
4...WW 5...WW 6...

DISCUSSION...ORGANIZED CONVECTIVE SYSTEM IN NC WILL MOVE ENEWD INTO
SE VA THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING.  THE MOIST ENVIRONMENT...AT LEAST WEAK
SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY...AND STRONG LOW-LEVEL WINDS/SHEAR WILL
SUPPORT THE RISK FOR A COUPLE OF TORNADOES AND DAMAGING GUSTS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 0.5 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24045.


...THOMPSON

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 11, 2:10 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Accomack, Brunswick, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Essex and 35 more	65 min
Jan 11, 4:14 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Charles City, Gloucester, Greensville, Isle of Wight, James City, Mathews and 19 more	61 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Virginia, 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.