Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Morristown, TN

May 27, 1996Meigs County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1996, 7:22 PM EDT for Meigs County, Tennessee. It was in force for 53 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: May 27, 1996, 7:22 PM EDT (23:22 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1996, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Meigs County, TN

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 27, 7:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Countywide, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 1038 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 184 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMRX 272322
TORMRX
TNC121-280015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
722 PM EDT MON MAY 27 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST TENNESSEE
 
   ...MEIGS COUNTY
 
AT 720 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVOVE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A TORNADO IN MEIGS COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.
TEN MILE IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

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 May 27, 2:17 PM EDT, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:17 PM EDT, 5 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
215 PM EDT MON MAY 27 1996

OUTFLOW BNDRY CURRENTLY STRETCHING FROM SOMERSET KY TO AROUND BNA
AND THEN WWD TO AROUND MO BOOTHEEL.  SRN END HAS SLOWED DOWN
CONSIDERABLY BUT WL SPEED UP AS MORE CONVECTION RACES EWD ACROSS AR.
EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS IN PLACE ACROSS EAST TN... SW VA AND SW
NC.  THUS NEEDLESS TO SAY WE WL CONTINUE THE THREAT FOR DMGG
WINDS/LARGE HAIL ACROSS MOST OF THE RGN TNT.  FLASH FLOODING THREAT WL
ALSO CONTINUE AS MOISTURE CONTENT AND POTENTIAL FOR REPEAT ACTIVITY WL
REMAIN HIGH TNT.  CURRENT CONFIGURATION LOOKS GOOD.  THUS LKLY POPS
FOR ALL ZONES TNT.  ACTIVITY WL TAPER OFF WELL AFT MIDNIGHT AS DRIER
AIR TRIES TO WORK IN FROM THE WEST.

ON TUE NVA ALONG WITH DRIER AIR WL KEEP STORMS ONLY SCTD AT BEST.
MAIN AREAS OF CONVECTION WL BE TO OUR NORTH ALONG THE QUASI-STNRY
FNTL BNDRY.  THE FNT WL BEGIN SINKING SWD ON WED AS PRESSURES RISE
ACROSS THE GRT LKS RGN.  THUS POPS WL BE INCREASING THROUGH THE DAY ON
WED.  TEMPS WL REMAIN SUMMER-LIKE THROUGH THE PD.  MB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 5:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Knox, Union	63 min
May 27, 5:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Roane	63 min
May 27, 6:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Grainger, Jefferson	55 min
May 27, 6:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamilton, Rhea	59 min
May 27, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Cumberland	58 min
May 27, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Meigs	58 min
May 27, 7:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Roane	67 min
May 27, 7:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	McMinn	60 min
May 27, 7:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Bradley	45 min
May 27, 7:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Monroe	56 min
May 27, 7:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Cocke	66 min
May 27, 7:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Polk	68 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.