Alert archive / Virginia / Mesoscale Discussions in 2025

Mesoscale Discussion 697

May 5, 202516 counties in North Carolina; 23 counties in Virginia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 5, 2025, 3:10 PM EDT for 16 counties in North Carolina; 23 counties in Virginia. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2025, 3:10 PM EDT (19:10 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2025, 5:15 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning: Severe thunderstorm watch 223

All 39 counties

Bertie County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Franklin County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Warren County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Brunswick County, VA, Charles City County, VA, Chesterfield County, VA, City of Colonial Heights, VA, City of Emporia, VA, City of Franklin, VA, City of Hopewell, VA, City of Petersburg, VA, City of Richmond, VA, City of Williamsburg, VA, Dinwiddie County, VA, Gloucester County, VA, Greensville County, VA, Henrico County, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA, James City County, VA, King and Queen County, VA, King William County, VA, New Kent County, VA, Prince George County, VA, Southampton County, VA, Surry County, VA, Sussex County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:09 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 170 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: 579 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 47 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 8:16 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin and 10 more	89 min
May 5, 12:05 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bladen, Chatham, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Durham and 24 more	115 min
May 5, 1:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Chowan, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin and 25 more	8 hr
May 5, 6:07 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Duplin and 15 more	113 min
May 5, 2:16 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick and 15 more	119 min
May 5, 5:29 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arlington, Caroline, Clarke, Culpeper, Essex, Fairfax and 30 more	2 hr
May 5, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, King George and 11 more	5 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Virginia, 2025 Mesoscale Discussions in North Carolina, 2025 Every mesoscale discussion in 2025

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.