Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2021
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 68
The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Mar 28, 2021, 3:24 PM EDT for 32 counties in North Carolina; 8 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 28, 2021, 3:24 PM EDT (19:24 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 28, 2021, 7:02 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 40 counties
Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston 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, Scotland County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, City of Chesapeake, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Norfolk, VA, City of Portsmouth, VA, City of Suffolk, VA, City of Virginia Beach, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, Southampton County, VA
The radar
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:28 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
- 20%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 5%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 28, 3:39 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Bertie | 51 min |
| Mar 28, 3:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Wilson | 40 min |
| Mar 28, 4:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Martin, Pitt | 39 min |
| Mar 28, 4:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Bertie | 24 min |
| Mar 28, 5:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank | 25 min |
| Mar 28, 5:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico | 43 min |
| Mar 28, 5:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Tyrrell, Washington | 26 min |
| Mar 28, 5:59 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Tyrrell | 19 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 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 127 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
- 184 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -190 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 936 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 60 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 171 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 79 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.8
The text
As transmitted.
680 WWUS20 KWNS 281922 SEL8 SPC WW 281922 NCZ000-VAZ000-CWZ000-290100- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 68 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 325 PM EDT Sun Mar 28 2021 The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of East central and northeast North Carolina Southeast Virginia Coastal Waters * Effective this Sunday afternoon and evening from 325 PM until 900 PM EDT. * Primary threats include... Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible Isolated large hail events to 1 inch in diameter possible A tornado or two possible SUMMARY...Scattered thunderstorms have developed along a pre-frontal trough across North Carolina, and additional storms may form along a sea breeze boundary farther to the east. The storms will spread northeastward toward southeast Virginia and will be capable of producing damaging winds, as well as an isolated tornado and marginally severe hail through this evening. The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 70 statute miles east and west of a line from 35 miles east of Fayetteville NC to 15 miles east northeast of Norfolk VA. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... REMEMBER...A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area. Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce tornadoes. && AVIATION...A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to 1 inch. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector 24045. ...Thompson
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 28, 2:25 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood and 7 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 28, 3:07 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain | 6 hr |
| Mar 28, 12:38 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland and 19 more | 3 hr |
| Mar 28, 4:53 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck and 13 more | 67 min |
| Mar 28, 1:24 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Accomack, Amelia, Appomattox, Arlington, Brunswick, Buckingham and 66 more | 2 hr |
| Mar 28, 5:05 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Prince William, Stafford, City of Alexandria and 3 more | 4 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 2021Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Virginia, 2021Every severe thunderstorm 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.