Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Wakefield, VA

September 6, 1996Southampton County, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at Sep 6, 1996, 1:55 AM EDT for Southampton County, Virginia. It was in force for 20 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
Sep 6, 1996, 1:55 AM EDT (05:55 UTC)
Expired
Sep 6, 1996, 2:15 AM EDT
In force
20 min
Issued by
NWS Wakefield, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Southampton County, VA

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 202 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 00:00Z on 1996-09-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 907 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Wallops Is Stn, VA at 00:00Z on 1996-09-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
907 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
459 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAKQ 060556
TORAKQ
VAC175-060615-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
155 AM EDT FRI SEP 6 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD VA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 215 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA

   ...SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY

 
AT 154 AM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY WAKEFIELD
DOPPLER RADAR 8 MILES EAST OF COURTLAND OR 6 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST
OF SEDLEY MOVING NORTHWEST AT 65 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE...
    SEDLEY                              BY 200 AM EDT
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTER\IOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

WFA/ALS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 6, 2:51 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQDinwiddie, Nottoway34 min
Sep 6, 3:50 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQAmelia, Dinwiddie35 min
Sep 6, 5:40 AM EDTTornado WarningAKQHenrico20 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.