Brian Cullen, NOAA/NWSFO Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, Newport, NC; David A. Glenn, NOAA/NWSFO Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, Newport, NC; Scott Kennedy, NOAA/NWSFO Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, Newport, NC; Robert Frederick, NOAA/NWSFO Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, Newport, NC; Andrew Zimmerman, NOAA/NWSFO Wakefield, Virginia, Wakefield, VA; and Reid Hawkins, NOAA/NWSFO Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington, NC; Carin Goodall, NOAA/NWSFO Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, Newport, NC
On 16 April 2011, Eastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia were impacted by a significant tornado outbreak rivaling the historic 28 March 1984 Carolinas tornado outbreak. Numerous long-track supercells formed ahead of an approaching cold front spawning several EF2 and EF3 tornadoes as well as many minor (EF0-EF1) tornadoes. By late morning on the 16th the NWS/Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had placed the region in a high risk for a significant severe weather event, marking just the second time that the region has been placed in high risk since the program's inception. The upper level pattern was very favorable with a negatively tilted trough and coupled jet structure. At the surface, the north-to-south oriented cold front was pushing east across central North Carolina by midafternoon, with ample daytime heating leading to moderate instability. Impressive wind profiles were also observed with significant veering with height and a low level jet of approximately 60 knots at 850 millibars. SPC mesoanalyses during the event indicated extremely high values of low-level helicity, supercell composite parameter, and significant tornado parameter. This paper addresses the near-storm environment preceding convective initiation and tornado development, and also includes radar interrogations of three EF3 tornadoes in Eastern North Carolina and Southeastern Virginia.
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