Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2023
Tornado Watch 722
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 17, 2023, 1:51 PM EST for 16 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 17, 2023, 1:51 PM EST (18:51 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 17, 2023, 9:55 PM EST
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
Counties Beaufort County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC
The radar
The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 40%
- 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
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 2:02 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Brunswick, Columbus | 58 min |
| Dec 17, 2:39 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Pender, Robeson | 66 min |
| Dec 17, 3:05 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Duplin | 40 min |
| Dec 17, 7:46 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Onslow | 44 min |
| Dec 17, 7:51 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Duplin | 3 hr |
| Dec 17, 8:27 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Jones, Lenoir, Onslow | 34 min |
| Dec 17, 8:42 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven | 15 min |
| Dec 17, 9:19 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Craven, Jones, Pamlico | 26 min |
| Dec 17, 9:49 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret | 15 min |
| Dec 17, 9:52 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven | 12 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, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 330 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 945 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 210 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 254 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 17, 12:06 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender | 4 hr |
| Dec 17, 4:49 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Dare and 8 more | 116 min |
| Dec 17, 6:51 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, Jones and 6 more | 114 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2023Every 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.