Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2019
Tornado Watch 687
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 31, 2019, 3:16 PM EDT for 7 counties in North Carolina; 62 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 31, 2019, 3:16 PM EDT (19:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 31, 2019, 11:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 69 counties
Caswell County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Alleghany County, VA, Amelia County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Bath County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Brunswick County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Caroline County, VA, Carroll County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Cumberland County, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Essex County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Fluvanna County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Goochland County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Hanover County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Henry County, VA, James City County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King William County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Lunenburg County, VA, Mecklenburg County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Nottoway County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Powhatan County, VA, Prince Edward County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Richmond County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA, Westmoreland County, VA
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:20 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
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 90%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 40%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 10%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
29 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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, 4:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, City of Covington | 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 |
| Oct 31, 5:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Franklin | 27 min |
| Oct 31, 5:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Amherst, Bedford, City of Lynchburg | 65 min |
| Oct 31, 5:38 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Carroll, Floyd, Montgomery, Pulaski, City of Galax, City of Radford | 112 min |
| Oct 31, 5:49 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Patrick | 33 min |
| Oct 31, 6:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 45 min |
| Oct 31, 6:37 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Caswell, Rockingham | 39 min |
| Oct 31, 6:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell | 40 min |
| Oct 31, 6:52 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Caswell | 23 min |
| Oct 31, 7:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax | 54 min |
| Oct 31, 7:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell | 30 min |
| Oct 31, 7:27 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Charlotte, Halifax | 48 min |
| Oct 31, 7:29 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Charlotte, Halifax | 36 min |
| Oct 31, 7:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Amelia, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, Nottoway and 2 more | 43 min |
| Oct 31, 7:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway | 41 min |
| Oct 31, 7:46 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Mecklenburg | 44 min |
| Oct 31, 7:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Amelia, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince Edward | 42 min |
| Oct 31, 8:07 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa | 38 min |
| Oct 31, 8:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Amelia, Brunswick, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg and 3 more | 62 min |
| Oct 31, 8:14 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Brunswick, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway | 46 min |
| Oct 31, 8:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Fluvanna, Louisa | 13 min |
| Oct 31, 8:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Louisa | 12 min |
| Oct 31, 8:49 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Louisa | 11 min |
| Oct 31, 8:53 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Brunswick, Greensville, Mecklenburg | 25 min |
| Oct 31, 9:18 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Nottoway, Prince George, Sussex | 21 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, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 29 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, 12:45 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga | 4 hr |
| Oct 31, 1:11 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Person, Rockingham, Stokes and 3 more | 3 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 Virginia, 2019Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 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.