Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2016
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 142
The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 3, 2016, 6:58 PM EDT for 24 counties in North Carolina; 11 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 3, 2016, 6:58 PM EDT (22:58 UTC)
- Expired
- May 3, 2016, 11:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 35 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, Gates County, NC, Greene 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, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, Greensville County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Sussex County, VA
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:58 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
- 10%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 2%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 7:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Northampton | 46 min |
| May 3, 7:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Greene, Lenoir, Pitt | 48 min |
| May 3, 8:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Greene, Lenoir, Pitt | 24 min |
| May 3, 8:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Lenoir, Pitt | 46 min |
| May 3, 8:37 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Greene, Lenoir, Pitt | 23 min |
| May 3, 9:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort | 16 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 12:00Z, 11.0 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1655 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 539 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 171 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.1
- Supercell composite
- 6.5
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 | Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 35 more | 3 hr |
| May 3, 2:52 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Bladen, Brunswick, Cabarrus, Catawba and 40 more | 8 hr |
| May 3, 5:58 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 24 more | 62 min |
| May 3, 3:48 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham and 48 more | 117 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2016Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Virginia, 2016Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.