Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Morristown, TN
NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 16, 1996, 4:10 PM CST for Fentress County, Tennessee. It was in force for 65 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
- Mar 16, 1996, 4:10 PM CST (22:10 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 16, 1996, 5:15 PM CST
- In force
- 65 min
- Issued by
- NWS Morristown, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Fentress County, TN
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 4:30 PM CST | Tornado F0 | East Jamestown, TN |
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
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 152 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1365 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 70 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 224 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 286 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 KMRX 162210 TORMRX TNC049-162315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN 510 PM EST (410 PM CST) SAT MAR 16 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM EST (515 PM CST) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST TENNESSEE ...FENTRESS COUNTY AT 408 PM CST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO OVER OVERTON COUNTY AND WILL BE MOVING INTO FENTRESS COUNTY BY 430 PM CST. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF GOLFBALL TO BASEBALL SIZE HAIL. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 40 MPH. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADTO 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Mar 16, 1:59 PM CST, 2 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 16, 1:59 PM CST, 2 hours 11 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 4:44 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MRX | Scott | 61 min |
| Mar 16, 5:07 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Campbell | 68 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 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.