Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2016

Mesoscale Discussion 538

May 3, 2016Charles County, Maryland; 54 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 3, 2016, 3:48 PM EDT for Charles County, Maryland; 54 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 117 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 3, 2016, 3:48 PM EDT (19:48 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 2016, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 117 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch: 20%

All 55 counties

Charles County, MD, Albemarle County, VA, Amelia County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Manassas, VA, City of Manassas Park, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Greene County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King George County, VA, King William County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Madison County, VA, Nelson County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Orange County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Prince William County, VA, Rappahannock County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:48 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 939 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 1:57 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania, City of Danville and 1 more	3 hr
May 3, 5:58 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Greensville, Isle of Wight, Northampton, Southampton, Surry, Sussex and 11 more	62 min
May 3, 6:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Greensville, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Sussex, City of Chesapeake, City of Emporia and 5 more	4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2016 Mesoscale Discussions in Maryland, 2016 Every 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.