Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2018

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 80

May 10, 201838 counties in North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 10, 2018, 4:23 PM EDT for 38 counties in North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 10, 2018, 4:23 PM EDT (20:23 UTC)
Expired
May 10, 2018, 9:56 PM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 43 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Anson County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Chatham County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Durham County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Granville County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Montgomery County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, Orange County, NC, Person County, NC, Polk County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Stanly County, NC, Union County, NC, Vance County, NC, Wake County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:24 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
5%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
2%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
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
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 10, 4:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAlexander, Iredell44 min
May 10, 4:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPHenderson, Polk, Rutherford44 min
May 10, 5:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham, Granville, Orange, Person55 min
May 10, 5:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPPolk48 min
May 10, 5:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPDavie, Iredell, Rowan45 min
May 10, 5:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHGranville, Person, Vance42 min
May 10, 5:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCleveland, Rutherford41 min
May 10, 5:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHVance, Warren47 min
May 10, 6:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham, Granville, Orange, Wake48 min
May 10, 6:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin, Vance44 min
May 10, 7:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPLaurens, Spartanburg, Union44 min
May 10, 7:07 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham, Randolph38 min
May 10, 7:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe, Halifax, Nash46 min
May 10, 7:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham, Lee, Moore, Randolph57 min
May 10, 7:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe, Nash, Wilson70 min
May 10, 7:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham35 min
May 10, 7:49 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPUnion26 min
May 10, 7:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWake46 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 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 58 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 2018-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2018-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 100 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1686 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 10, 12:36 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaswell, Granville, Guilford, Person, Rockingham, Vance and 1 more114 min
May 10, 1:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBertie, Camden, Caswell, Chowan, Currituck, Gates and 5 more8 hr
May 10, 3:35 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Davidson and 23 more115 min
May 10, 7:20 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cleveland, Davidson and 25 more55 min
May 10, 4:53 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlbemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Arlington, Augusta and 79 more67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2018Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2018Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2018

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.