Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 23, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1996, 8:07 AM EDT for Dare County, North Carolina. It was in force for 38 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 8, 1996, 8:07 AM EDT (12:07 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 8, 1996, 8:45 AM EDT
- In force
- 38 min
- Issued by
- NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Dare County, NC
The radar
The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:07 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 8:20 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Frisco, NC |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 150 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
- 971 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 498 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 72 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 565 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 924 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 6.0
- Supercell composite
- 27.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMHX 081211 TORMHX NCC055-081245- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT NC 807 AM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 845 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA ...OUTER BANKS IN DARE COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS AT 807 AM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM OVER THE COASTAL WATERS ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BUXTON. THE STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL CROSS CAPE HATTERAS NEAR FRISCO AND BUXTON AROUND 820 AM. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO 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. CG/JH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 6:29 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow | 4 hr |
| Oct 8, 6:29 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Pamlico | 4 hr |
| Oct 8, 6:29 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Duplin, Lenoir | 4 hr |
| Oct 8, 7:20 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Onslow | 40 min |
| Oct 8, 8:30 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Greene, Pitt | 3 hr |
| Oct 8, 8:30 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MHX | Beaufort, Martin | 3 hr |
| Oct 8, 8:43 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Jones | 32 min |
| Oct 8, 8:58 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Craven | 47 min |
| Oct 8, 8:59 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Craven | 31 min |
| Oct 8, 9:16 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MHX | Beaufort | 29 min |
| Oct 8, 10:12 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MHX | Carteret, Onslow | 48 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.