Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1993

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 3, 1993Durham County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Aug 3, 1993, 4:38 PM EDT for Durham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 37 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 3, 1993, 4:38 PM EDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 1993, 5:15 PM EDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Durham County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 92 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: 716 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -136 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1106 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 032038
TORRDU
NCC063-032115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
438 PM EDT TUE AUG 3 1993
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...SOUTHERN DURHAM COUNTY
 
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A TORNADO WARNING.
AT 435 PM A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED ON RADAR IN SOUTHERN DURHAM
COUNTY WEST OF THE CITY OF DURHAM. A POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WITH
THIS STORM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
 
TORNADOES IN THE SOUTH ARE HARD TO SEE BECAUSE OF RAIN...LOW CLOUDS
...AND TREES. OFTEN YOUR ONLY^ WARNING WILL BE A LOUD ROARING SOUND
AND FLYING DEBRIS. BUT THAT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW!  WHEN
SAFE TO DO SO...REPORT DAMAGES TO EMERGENCY OFFICIALS PROMPTLY.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	41 min
Aug 3, 4:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham	47 min
Aug 3, 4:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	48 min
Aug 3, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	45 min
Aug 3, 5:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	50 min
Aug 3, 7:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston, Wayne	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1993 Every tornado warning in 1993 Tornadoes in 1993

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.