Alert archive / North Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2016

Mesoscale Discussion 1213

July 8, 201655 counties in North Carolina; Cherokee County, York County, South Carolina; Brunswick County, Lunenburg County, Mecklenburg County, Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jul 8, 2016, 5:48 PM EDT for 55 counties in North Carolina; Cherokee County, York County, South Carolina; Brunswick County, Lunenburg County, Mecklenburg County, Virginia. It was in force for 57 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 8, 2016, 5:48 PM EDT (21:48 UTC)
Expired
Jul 8, 2016, 6:45 PM EDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
95%
All 60 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Clay County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Graham County, NC, Granville County, NC, Greene County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Macon County, NC, Madison County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Polk County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Cherokee County, SC, York County, SC, Brunswick County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 151 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:49 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.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 100 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 2016-07-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 178 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2016-07-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 142 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
178 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-224 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1340 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
142 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

678 
ACUS11 KWNS 082148
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 082148 
NCZ000-VAZ000-SCZ000-TNZ000-GAZ000-082245-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 1213
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0448 PM CDT FRI JUL 08 2016

AREAS AFFECTED...S-CNTRL VA / MUCH OF WRN AND CNTRL NC / UPSTATE SC

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH LIKELY 

VALID 082148Z - 082245Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...95 PERCENT

SUMMARY...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WITH SOME OF THEM
FEATURING STRONG TO LOCALLY SEVERE GUSTS /50-65 MPH/ RESULTING IN
ISOLD TO SCTD WIND DAMAGE.

DISCUSSION...RADAR IMAGERY AROUND 2145Z SHOWS AN ELONGATED LOOSELY
CONNECTED MCS ACROSS THE SRN APPALACHIANS FROM THE CUMBERLAND
PLATEAU ENEWD THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP AND INTO S-CNTRL VA.  KMRX
AND KFCX RADAR IMAGERY SHOW 50-KT AND 30-KT 3 KM ARL FLOW.  KROA
MEASURED A 52-KT GUST AT 2108Z.  THE AIRMASS DOWNSTREAM OF THE
STORMS HAS HEATED WITH TEMPS AROUND 100 DEG F IN UPSTATE SC AND THE
LOWER 90S IN THE TRI CITIES AREA.  DEWPOINTS HAVE MIXED MORE IN
UPSTATE SC WHERE TEMPS/DEWPOINT SPREADS ARE AROUND 30 DEG F AND 0-3
KM LAPSE RATES ARE AROUND 9 DEG C/KM.  GIVEN THE STRONG BUOYANCY AND
SUFFICIENTLY STRONG WLY FLOW FIELDS IN PLACE ACROSS THE
REGION...SCATTERED 50+ MPH GUSTS /LOCALLY 60-65 MPH/ ARE POSSIBLE
WITH THE STRONGER CORES IN THE MORE INTENSE CLUSTERS/SQUALL LINE. 
THERE IS RELATIVELY HIGH CONFIDENCE IN AN ISOLD TO SCTD WIND-DAMAGE
THREAT AND A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY
2230Z FOR MUCH OF THIS AREA.

..SMITH/HART.. 07/08/2016

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...AKQ...MHX...RAH...RNK...CAE...GSP...MRX...

LAT...LON   35958274 36397932 37137844 36567751 35437742 34958028
            34968333 35058378 35458389 35958274

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 8, 3:32 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell and 12 more88 min
Jul 8, 3:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and 3 more5 hr
Jul 8, 6:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlamance, Alexander, Anson, Avery, Beaufort, Bertie and 68 more6 hr
Jul 8, 6:48 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Avery, Caldwell, Davie, Iredell, Watauga and 2 more57 min
Jul 8, 7:36 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay24 min
Jul 8, 1:01 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBuchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Wise and 1 more59 min
Jul 8, 1:34 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBuchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Washington and 3 more7 hr
Jul 8, 3:49 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBuchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell and 4 more56 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2016Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2016Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2016Every mesoscale discussion in 2016

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.