Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2020

Tornado Watch 414

August 3, 202030 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 3, 2020, 8:49 PM EDT for 30 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 9 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 3, 2020, 8:49 PM EDT (00:49 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 2020, 5:42 AM EDT
In force
9 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 30 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, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:52 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
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
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
30%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 3, 9:31 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXHyde, Tyrrell, Washington14 min
Aug 3, 11:14 PM EDTTornado WarningAKQPasquotank, Perquimans31 min
Aug 3, 11:21 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXCraven, Pamlico24 min
Aug 3, 11:40 PM EDTTornado WarningAKQCamden, Pasquotank35 min
Aug 3, 11:45 PM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatRAHCumberland, Harnett, Johnston, Sampson, Wayne6 hr
Aug 3, 11:51 PM EDTTornado WarningAKQCamden, Currituck24 min
Aug 3, 11:53 PM EDTTornado WarningAKQPasquotank, Perquimans37 min
Aug 4, 12:08 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXBeaufort22 min
Aug 4, 12:09 AM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatRAHEdgecombe, Franklin, Nash, Wake, Wilson6 hr
Aug 4, 12:16 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQCamden, Currituck29 min
Aug 4, 12:21 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQCamden, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans24 min
Aug 4, 12:47 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXBeaufort, Martin, Washington28 min
Aug 4, 12:55 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningMHXBeaufort, Martin, Pamlico, Pitt98 min
Aug 4, 12:56 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXBeaufort, Martin, Washington19 min
Aug 4, 1:09 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQBertie36 min
Aug 4, 1:29 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXHyde, Tyrrell, Washington31 min
Aug 4, 1:40 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQBertie, Hertford, Northampton35 min
Aug 4, 1:57 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQBertie, Chowan, Gates, Hertford33 min
Aug 4, 1:57 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXTyrrell, Washington18 min
Aug 4, 2:00 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQBertie, Hertford, Northampton30 min
Aug 4, 2:11 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQChowan, Perquimans34 min
Aug 4, 2:18 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQGates, Hertford27 min
Aug 4, 2:21 AM EDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatAKQHertford, Northampton24 min
Aug 4, 2:21 AM EDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatRAHGranville, Halifax, Vance, Warren6 hr
Aug 4, 2:34 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQChowan, Gates, Hertford, Perquimans26 min
Aug 4, 2:37 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQCamden, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans23 min
Aug 4, 2:52 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningAKQBertie, Gates, Hertford, Northampton3 hr
Aug 4, 2:57 AM EDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatAKQCamden, Gates, Pasquotank33 min
Aug 4, 3:05 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQChowan, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans25 min
Aug 4, 3:43 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQGates32 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 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 118 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2020-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1058 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 2020-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 143 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1058 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
755 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
4.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 3, 8:03 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Chowan and 26 more117 min
Aug 4, 12:02 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven and 25 more118 min
Aug 4, 2:43 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCamden92 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2020Every tornado watch in 2020

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.