Alert archive / Virginia / Winter Storm Watches in 2021

Winter Storm Watch 2, NWS Baltimore/Washington

January 29, 202133 counties in Virginia; 15 counties in Maryland; 8 counties in West Virginia

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this winter storm watch at Jan 29, 2021, 3:10 PM EST for 33 counties in Virginia; 15 counties in Maryland; 8 counties in West Virginia. It took effect at Jan 30, 2021, 10:00 PM EST. It was in force for .

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 29, 2021, 3:10 PM EST (20:10 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 30, 2021, 10:00 PM EST
Expired: Jan 30, 2021, 2:30 PM EST
In force
Issued by: NWS Baltimore/Washington

All 56 counties

Allegany County, MD, Anne Arundel County, MD, Baltimore County, MD, Calvert County, MD, Carroll County, MD, Cecil County, MD, Charles County, MD, City of Baltimore, MD, Frederick County, MD, Harford County, MD, Howard County, MD, Montgomery County, MD, Prince George's County, MD, Saint Mary's County, MD, Washington County, MD, Albemarle County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Arlington County, VA, Augusta County, VA, City of Alexandria, VA, City of Charlottesville, VA, City of Fairfax, VA, City of Falls Church, VA, City of Fredericksburg, VA, City of Harrisonburg, VA, City of Staunton, VA, City of Waynesboro, VA, City of Winchester, VA, Clarke County, VA, Culpeper County, VA, Fairfax County, VA, Fauquier County, VA, Frederick County, VA, Greene County, VA, Highland County, VA, King George County, VA, Loudoun County, VA, Madison County, VA, Nelson County, VA, Orange County, VA, Page County, VA, Rappahannock County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Rockingham County, VA, Shenandoah County, VA, Spotsylvania County, VA, Stafford County, VA, Warren County, VA, Berkeley County, WV, Grant County, WV, Hampshire County, WV, Hardy County, WV, Jefferson County, WV, Mineral County, WV, Morgan County, WV, Pendleton County, WV

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:15 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 nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 1288 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 79 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 53 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 winter storm watch 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 winter storm watch went out at Jan 29, 10:40 AM EST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 10:40 AM EST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 29, 10:49 AM EST, 4 hours 21 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 29, 10:03 AM EST, 5 hours 7 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jan 28, 7:52 PM EST	Small Craft Advisory	LWX	40 hr
Jan 29, 12:38 AM EST	Small Craft Advisory	LWX	29 hr
Jan 29, 2:13 AM EST	Gale Warning	LWX	12 hr
Jan 29, 2:13 AM EST	Small Craft Advisory	LWX	4 hr
Jan 29, 2:13 AM EST	Small Craft Advisory	LWX	34 hr

Nearby

Winter Storm Watches in Virginia, 2021 Winter Storm Watches in Maryland, 2021 Winter Storm Watches in West Virginia, 2021 Every winter storm watch in 2021

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.