Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2019

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Baltimore/Washington

May 23, 2019Arlington County, City of Alexandria, Virginia; Prince George's County, Maryland

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at May 23, 2019, 3:47 PM EDT for Arlington County, City of Alexandria, Virginia; Prince George's County, Maryland. It was in force for 11 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 23, 2019, 3:47 PM EDT (19:47 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2019, 3:58 PM EDT
In force: 11 min
Issued by: NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area: Storm-based polygon
Tornado: Radar indicated
Hail: 0.75 in

Counties Prince George's County, MD, Arlington County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:46 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 23, 1:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 1760 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 269 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 313 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 23, 2:46 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 2:46 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 23, 1:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 43 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Baltimore MD/Washington DC
104 PM EDT Thu May 23 2019

ANZ530>543-DCZ001-MDZ011-013-014-016>018-508-VAZ052>057-241000-
Chesapeake Bay north of Pooles Island MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Pooles Island to Sandy Point MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Sandy Point to North Beach MD-
Chesapeake Bay from North Beach to Drum Point MD-
Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point MD to Smith Point VA-
Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD-
Tidal Potomac from Indian Head to Cobb Island MD-
Tidal Potomac from Cobb Island MD to Smith Point VA-
Patapsco River including Baltimore Harbor-
Chester River to Queenstown MD-Eastern Bay-
Choptank River to Cambridge MD and the Little Choptank River-
Patuxent River to Broomes Island MD-
Tangier Sound and the inland waters surrounding Bloodsworth
Island-District of Columbia-Southern Baltimore-Prince Georges-
Anne Arundel-Charles-St. Marys-Calvert-Southeast Harford-
Prince William/Manassas/Manassas Park-Fairfax-
Arlington/Falls Church/Alexandria-Stafford-Spotsylvania-
King George-
104 PM EDT Thu May 23 2019

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Maryland portion of the
Chesapeake Bay, Tidal Potomac River, and adjacent counties in
central Maryland and northern Virginia as well as the District of
Columbia.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 8 pm this evening.
Isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms are possible this
afternoon and evening. Locally damaging winds and large hail are
the primary threats, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out
as well.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed this afternoon and evening.

MDZ003>006-501>507-VAZ025>031-036>040-050-051-501>508-WVZ050>053-
055-501>506-241000-
Washington-Frederick MD-Carroll-Northern Baltimore-
Extreme Western Allegany-Central and Eastern Allegany-
Northwest Montgomery-Central and Southeast Montgomery-
Northwest Howard-Central and Southeast Howard-Northwest Harford-
Augusta-Rockingham-Shenandoah-Frederick VA-Page-Warren-Clarke-
Nelson-Albemarle-Greene-Madison-Rappahannock-Orange-Culpeper-
Northern Fauquier-Southern Fauquier-Western Highland-
Eastern Highland-Western Loudoun-Eastern Loudoun-
Northern Virginia Blue Ridge-Central Virginia Blue Ridge-
Hampshire-Morgan-Berkeley-Jefferson-Hardy-Western Grant-
Eastern Grant-Western Mineral-Eastern Mineral-Western Pendleton-
Eastern Pendleton-
104 PM EDT Thu May 23 2019

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for eastern West Virginia,
northern and central Virginia, and central and western Maryland
with the exception of Garrett County.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 8 PM this evening
for portions of northern and central Virginia, central Maryland,
and the eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Isolated to scattered
severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and evening.
Locally damaging winds and large hail are the primary threats, but
an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out as well.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed this afternoon and evening.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 23, 3:26 PM EDT, 21 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 23, 3:30 PM EDT, 17 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 23, 3:31 PM EDT, 16 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 23, 3:36 PM EDT, 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 23, 3:39 PM EDT, 8 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 23, 3:45 PM EDT, 2 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Baltimore/Washington issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 4:30 AM EDT	Small Craft Advisory	LWX		40 hr
May 23, 2:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Clarke, Loudoun	34 min
May 23, 2:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier, Page, Rappahannock, Warren	45 min
May 23, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Greene, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham	48 min
May 23, 2:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Loudoun	34 min
May 23, 3:07 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		71 min
May 23, 3:07 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		83 min
May 23, 3:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and 4 more	34 min
May 23, 3:27 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		93 min
May 23, 3:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Madison, Orange, Prince William and 3 more	32 min
May 23, 3:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, City of Alexandria, City of Falls Church	39 min
May 23, 3:42 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		93 min
May 23, 3:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Albemarle, Culpeper, Fauquier, King George, Orange, Prince William and 3 more	65 min
May 23, 4:19 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		86 min
May 23, 4:52 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		28 min
May 23, 5:13 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		62 min
May 23, 5:30 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LWX		30 min
May 23, 1:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick, Washington	37 min
May 23, 2:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick, Washington	18 min
May 23, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Frederick	33 min
May 23, 3:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's, City of Baltimore	39 min
May 23, 3:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LWX	Howard	30 min
May 23, 3:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Prince George's, City of Baltimore	32 min
May 23, 4:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George's, Saint Mary's	50 min
May 23, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Anne Arundel	15 min
May 23, 4:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Calvert, Saint Mary's	48 min
May 23, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Saint Mary's	18 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 2019 Tornado Warnings in Maryland, 2019 Every tornado warning in 2019 Tornadoes in 2019

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.