Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Wakefield, VA
NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at Jul 15, 1996, 6:06 PM EDT for Charles City County, Prince George County, Virginia. It was in force for 54 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 15, 1996, 6:06 PM EDT (22:06 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 15, 1996, 7:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 54 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wakefield, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:05 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, 10.1 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1856 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -20 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 506 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 21 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 34 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KAKQ 152206 TORAKQ VAC037-149-670-152300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA 606 PM EDT MON JUL 15 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN EAST CENTRAL VIRGINIA ...CHARLES CITY COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA ...NORTHERN PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY AND THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF ...HOPEWELL AT 605 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR THE CITY OF COLONIAL HEIGHTS. THE POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL MOVE INTO NORTHERN PRINCE GEORGE AND SOUTHERN CHARLES CITY COUNTIES BY 635 PM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY! DON'T HESITATE. THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS. 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. fAVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 4:09 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Amelia | 36 min |
| Jul 15, 4:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, City of Colonial Heights | 38 min |
| Jul 15, 6:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | City of Hopewell | 54 min |
| Jul 15, 6:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Lancaster | 26 min |
| Jul 15, 6:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Gloucester, Mathews | 26 min |
| Jul 15, 6:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Middlesex | 26 min |
| Jul 15, 7:46 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Gloucester | 29 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes in 1996
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.