Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Morristown, TN

March 16, 1996Scott County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 16, 1996, 7:37 PM EST for Scott County, Tennessee. It was in force for 68 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: Mar 16, 1996, 7:37 PM EST (00:37 UTC)
Expired: Mar 16, 1996, 8:45 PM EST
In force: 68 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Scott County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:39 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 191 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: 139 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1089 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 85 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMRX 170039 RRA
SVRMRX
TNC151-170145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
737 PM EST (637 PM CST) SAT MAR 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  845 PM EST (745 PM CST)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST TENNESSEE
 
   ...SCOTT COUNTY
 
AT 738 PM EST...A THUNDERSTORM WAS OVER SCOTT COUNTY MOVING EAST AT 40
MPH. THIS STORM IS PRODUCING QUARTER TO GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 16, 2:59 PM EST, 4 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 2:59 PM EST, 4 hours 38 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
245 PM EST SAT MAR 16 1996

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF THE FA TODAY WILL CONTINUE INTO
THE EVENING HOURS.  CURRENT WW OVER PLATEAU AND EXTREME WESTERN PORTION
OF THE VALLEY THROUGH 8 PM WILL LIKELY EXTEND EASTWARD INTO THE REMAINDER
OF THE VALLEY TONIGHT AS DYNAMICS SHIFT EASTWARD.  HOPEFULLY MOVING
INTO THE EVENING HOURS WILL TAKE SOME OF THE PUNCH OUT HOWEVER.

CURRENT FORECAST POPS AND TEMPS REASONABLE HOWEVER WORDING MIGHT NEED
REVISING TO CONVEY POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE CONVECTION.

THE GOOD NEWS FOR SUNDAY IS THAT INTENSE DEEP CONVECTION TO SOUTH OF FA
WILL "CUTOFF" THE GULF AND THEREFORE THE BIGGEST THzREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER.
EVEN WITH THIS CUTOFF...SHOWERS AND SOME TSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE.

MONDAY SHOULD SEE THINGS BEGINNING TO QUIET DOWN SOMEWHAT, BUT STILL
A HIGH LIKELYHOOD OF PRECIPITATION.  FWC POPS AND TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 16, 6:48 PM EST, 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
640 PM EST SAT MAR 16 1996

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

545 PM     ALLARDT                   TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
03/16/96   FENTRESS

602 PM     JAMESTOWN                 TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
03/16/96   FENTRESS

545 PM     ALLARDT                   TN   TORNADO
03/16/96   FENTRESS                       ROOF TAKEN OFF STORE AND
                                          HOME DAMAGED.  NUMEROUS
                                          TREES BLOWN DOWN

615 PM     5 E ONEIDA                TN   TORNADO
03/16/96   SCOTT                          TORNADO TOUCHDOWN IN EAST
                                          PART OF COUNTY AND DESTROYED
                                          A TRAILER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 16, 7:26 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Grainger	64 min
Mar 16, 7:40 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock, Hawkins	65 min
Mar 16, 9:01 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamblen	59 min
Mar 16, 10:27 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Unicoi	33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Tennessee, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.