Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Wakefield, VA

October 5, 1995City of Suffolk, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at Oct 5, 1995, 2:44 PM EDT for City of Suffolk, Virginia. It was in force for 34 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Oct 5, 1995, 2:44 PM EDT (18:44 UTC)
Expired: Oct 5, 1995, 3:18 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Whole counties

County City of Suffolk, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:43 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

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 173 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: 1182 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 520 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 4.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAKQ 051845
TORAKQ
VAC093-800-051930-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
244 PM EDT THU OCT 5 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  330 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA
 
   ...ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY
 
  AND THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF
 
   ...SUFFOLK
 
AT 242 PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED POSSIBLE TORNADOES NEAR
WALTERS IN ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY AND ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FRANKLIN
MOVING INTO SUFFOLK.
 
THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH TO NORTHEAST 45 MPH. THE
THUNDERSTORM MOVING THRU ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY WILL AFFECT THE TOWN OF
WINDSOR...WHILE THE THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO SUFFOLK WILL AFFECT THE
AREAS NEAR HOLLAND AND WHALEYSVILLE.
 
 
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY AND TAKE COVER!
GO TO A BASEMENT IF AVAILABLE...OTHERWISE A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON
CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO
A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS OR CALL
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD VA AT 1-800-737-8624.
STAY TUNED NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER MEDIA FOR UPDATES ON THIS
WEATHER SITUATION.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 5, 12:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Southampton, Sussex	32 min
Oct 5, 2:01 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Charles City, James City	44 min
Oct 5, 2:01 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	King and Queen	44 min
Oct 5, 2:36 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Lancaster, Richmond	42 min
Oct 5, 2:36 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Middlesex	19 min
Oct 5, 2:36 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Northumberland	54 min
Oct 5, 2:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Isle of Wight	46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 1995 Every tornado warning in 1995 Tornadoes in 1995

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.