Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

September 17, 1996Pitt County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 1996, 3:18 AM EDT for Pitt County, North Carolina. It was in force for 42 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 17, 1996, 3:18 AM EDT (07:18 UTC)
Expired
Sep 17, 1996, 4:00 AM EDT
In force
42 min
Issued by
NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Pitt County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:20 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 101 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 1996-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 266 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 1996-09-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 178 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
266 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
802 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
250 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMHX 170720
TORMHX
NCC147-170800-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT NC
318 AM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTHERN PITT COUNTY
 
AT 317 AM DOPPLER RADAR IN NEWPORT INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO
JUST NORTH OF THE CITY OF GREENVILLE. THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS AREA
WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTED
HIGH WINDS WERE OCCURRING NORTHWEST OF GREENVILLE. THE STORM WILL
AFFECT STATON BY 330 AM AND OAKLEY BEFORE 345 AM.
 
TORNADOES WHICH OCCUR AFTER DARK ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. GET TO A
PLACE OF SAFETY NOW. STAY AWAY FROM DOORS AND WINDOWS. LEAVE MOBILE
HOMES AND CARS FOR THE SAFETY OF A STURDY BUILDING. IF DAMAGE OCCURS
NEAR YOU...STAY INDOORS UNTIL DAYLIGHT. THERE MAY BE DOWNED POWER
LINES AND OTHER HAZARDS T:HAT CANNOT BE SEEN IN THE DARK.
 
 
RVT
&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 16, 10:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXDuplin33 min
Sep 16, 11:46 PM EDTTornado WarningMHXLenoir29 min
Sep 17, 12:20 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXCraven, Pitt40 min
Sep 17, 12:50 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXBeaufort40 min
Sep 17, 1:26 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningMHXLenoir4 hr
Sep 17, 1:55 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXHyde50 min
Sep 17, 3:35 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXDare25 min
Sep 17, 3:41 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXMartin34 min
Sep 17, 6:38 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXCarteret52 min
Sep 17, 8:07 AM EDTTornado WarningMHXCarteret38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 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.