Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2019
Tornado Watch 685
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 31, 2019, 12:45 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 31, 2019, 12:45 PM EDT (16:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 31, 2019, 5:04 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 56 counties
Pike County, KY, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Carter County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Washington County, TN, Bland County, VA, Buchanan County, VA, City of Bristol, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Norton, VA, Dickenson County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Russell County, VA, Scott County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Washington County, VA, Wise County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Barbour County, WV, Boone County, WV, Braxton County, WV, Calhoun County, WV, Clay County, WV, Doddridge County, WV, Fayette County, WV, Gilmer County, WV, Greenbrier County, WV, Harrison County, WV, Kanawha County, WV, Lewis County, WV, Lincoln County, WV, Logan County, WV, McDowell County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Mingo County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Raleigh County, WV, Randolph County, WV, Ritchie County, WV, Roane County, WV, Summers County, WV, Taylor County, WV, Tyler County, WV, Upshur County, WV, Webster County, WV, Wirt County, WV, Wyoming County, WV
The radar
The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:49 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 70%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
Warnings issued inside it
18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 12:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Hawkins, Sullivan | 43 min |
| Oct 31, 12:57 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Buchanan, Dickenson | 48 min |
| Oct 31, 12:57 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Logan, Mingo | 48 min |
| Oct 31, 12:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Carter, Sullivan, Washington | 27 min |
| Oct 31, 1:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Boone, Cabell, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan and 3 more | 50 min |
| Oct 31, 1:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Buchanan | 36 min |
| Oct 31, 1:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Bland, Giles, Smyth, Tazewell, Wythe | 73 min |
| Oct 31, 1:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Kanawha and 5 more | 54 min |
| Oct 31, 2:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Greenbrier | 34 min |
| Oct 31, 2:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Barbour, Braxton, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis and 6 more | 62 min |
| Oct 31, 2:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Bland, Giles, Smyth, Tazewell, Wythe | 90 min |
| Oct 31, 3:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Pocahontas, Randolph | 49 min |
| Oct 31, 3:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes | 75 min |
| Oct 31, 3:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Craig, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, City of Radford | 40 min |
| Oct 31, 4:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Pocahontas, Randolph | 43 min |
| Oct 31, 4:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Greenbrier, Monroe | 86 min |
| Oct 31, 4:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Carroll, Floyd, Montgomery, Pulaski, Roanoke, City of Radford | 60 min |
| Oct 31, 4:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Alleghany, Surry, Wilkes | 47 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
Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 197 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
- 50 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -79 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 621 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 270 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 270 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 11:12 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Mitchell and 3 more | 2 hr |
| Oct 31, 1:11 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Person, Rockingham, Stokes and 3 more | 3 hr |
| Oct 31, 3:16 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Caswell, Northampton, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes and 1 more | 8 hr |
| Oct 31, 3:39 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell and 41 more | 7 hr |
| Oct 31, 4:01 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caswell, Guilford, Rockingham | 119 min |
| Oct 31, 6:36 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and 26 more | 114 min |
| Oct 31, 2:56 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Albemarle, Arlington, Augusta, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax and 28 more | 10 hr |
| Oct 31, 7:14 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arlington, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier and 17 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2019Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2019Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2019Every tornado watch 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.