Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 723

December 17, 2023Carteret County, Dare County, Hyde County, North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 17, 2023, 9:55 PM EST for Carteret County, Dare County, Hyde County, North Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 17, 2023, 9:55 PM EST (02:55 UTC)
Expired
Dec 18, 2023, 12:38 AM EST
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
0.5 in
Strongest gust expected
55 kt

Counties Carteret County, NC, Dare County, NC, Hyde County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:54 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
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
10%
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%

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, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 2023-12-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2023-12-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 514 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
514 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
716 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 17, 9:53 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Carteret, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico, Pasquotank and 3 more67 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.