Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 603

August 7, 202323 counties in North Carolina; 37 counties in Virginia; 4 counties in West Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 7, 2023, 1:51 PM EDT for 23 counties in North Carolina; 37 counties in Virginia; 4 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 7, 2023, 1:51 PM EDT (17:51 UTC)
Expired: Aug 7, 2023, 7:56 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 64 counties

Alamance County, NC, Alexander County, NC, Alleghany County, NC, Ashe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Caswell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Davidson County, NC, Davie County, NC, Forsyth County, NC, Guilford County, NC, Iredell County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Person County, NC, Randolph County, NC, Rockingham County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Stokes County, NC, Surry County, NC, Watauga County, NC, Wilkes County, NC, Yadkin County, NC, Alleghany County, VA, Amherst County, VA, Appomattox County, VA, Bath County, VA, Bedford County, VA, Bland County, VA, Botetourt County, VA, Buckingham County, VA, Campbell County, VA, Carroll County, VA, Charlotte County, VA, City of Buena Vista, VA, City of Covington, VA, City of Danville, VA, City of Galax, VA, City of Lexington, VA, City of Lynchburg, VA, City of Martinsville, VA, City of Radford, VA, City of Roanoke, VA, City of Salem, VA, Craig County, VA, Floyd County, VA, Franklin County, VA, Giles County, VA, Grayson County, VA, Halifax County, VA, Henry County, VA, Montgomery County, VA, Patrick County, VA, Pittsylvania County, VA, Pulaski County, VA, Roanoke County, VA, Rockbridge County, VA, Smyth County, VA, Tazewell County, VA, Wythe County, VA, Greenbrier County, WV, Mercer County, WV, Monroe County, WV, Summers County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:52 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: 40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 90%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 40%
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: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 7, 2:02 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Bland, Smyth, Wythe	28 min
Aug 7, 2:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Carroll, Pulaski, Wythe	51 min
Aug 7, 3:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Carroll, Floyd, Franklin, Patrick	32 min
Aug 7, 3:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bath, Rockbridge	36 min
Aug 7, 3:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Mitchell and 1 more	50 min
Aug 7, 3:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon and 4 more	41 min
Aug 7, 4:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Polk and 2 more	43 min
Aug 7, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, McDowell	41 min
Aug 7, 4:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Burke, Cleveland, Lincoln, Polk, Rutherford	43 min
Aug 7, 4:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln	46 min
Aug 7, 4:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Davie, Gaston, Iredell and 3 more	38 min
Aug 7, 4:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Rockingham, Stokes	48 min
Aug 7, 4:59 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Iredell, Rowan	31 min
Aug 7, 5:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	GSP	Cabarrus, Davie, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan	40 min
Aug 7, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, Montgomery, Randolph, Stanly	63 min
Aug 7, 5:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Greenbrier, Monroe, Summers	68 min
Aug 7, 5:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Monroe, Summers	20 min
Aug 7, 6:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RAH	Alamance, Chatham, Guilford, Lee, Moore, Orange and 1 more	51 min
Aug 7, 6:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alleghany, Craig	21 min
Aug 7, 6:27 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham, Lee, Randolph	33 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 101 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: 502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 687 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 7, 8:18 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Surry, Watauga and 1 more	117 min
Aug 7, 10:33 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee	117 min
Aug 7, 11:17 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Avery, Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood and 6 more	7 hr
Aug 7, 12:14 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alleghany	2 hr
Aug 7, 1:19 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus and 29 more	116 min
Aug 7, 1:36 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Madison, Swain	114 min
Aug 7, 2:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Henderson, Lincoln, Mecklenburg and 4 more	4 hr
Aug 7, 3:59 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anson	2 hr
Aug 7, 4:08 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and 12 more	97 min
Aug 7, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anson, Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Chatham and 40 more	7 hr
Aug 7, 4:32 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg	118 min
Aug 7, 5:47 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alamance, Anson, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson and 24 more	118 min
Aug 7, 7:59 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck and 26 more	2 hr
Aug 7, 10:57 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Washington and 3 more	7 hr
Aug 7, 1:03 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell and 2 more	87 min
Aug 7, 1:20 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Albemarle, Amelia, Arlington, Augusta, Caroline, Chesterfield and 49 more	11 hr
Aug 7, 3:17 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Albemarle, Arlington, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Essex and 33 more	88 min
Aug 7, 4:40 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Albemarle, Arlington, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax and 27 more	95 min
Aug 7, 10:19 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge and 21 more	86 min
Aug 7, 2:53 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay and 18 more	97 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Virginia, 2023 Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2023 Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2023 Every tornado watch in 2023

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.