Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Morristown, TN

May 28, 1996Fentress County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at May 28, 1996, 9:04 PM CDT for Fentress County, Tennessee. It was in force for 56 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 28, 1996, 9:04 PM CDT (02:04 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1996, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 56 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 02:08 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
May 28, 9:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	North Part, 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 00:00Z, 2.1 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.

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: 2991 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 989 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 260 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.6
Supercell composite: 16.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMRX 290203
TORMRX
TNC049-290300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
1004 PM EDT (904 PM CDT) TUE MAY 28 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM EDT (1000 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST TENNESSEE
 
   ...NORTHERN FENTRESS COUNTY
 
AT 1000 PM EDT (900 PM CDT) NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO ENTERING
NORTHERN FENTRESS COUNTY NEAR PALL MALL. THE STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENLCH 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 28, 2:07 PM CDT, 6 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:07 PM CDT, 6 hours 57 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
305 PM EDT TUE MAY 28 1996

AIRMASS HAS NEVER QUITE RECOVERED ACROSS THE RGN THIS AFTN THANKS TO
EARLIER CONVECTION.  DO NOT REALLY SEE MUCH FOCUS FOR STORMS THROUGH
MIDNIGHT.  MAY SEE SOME SCTD ACTIVITY DEVELOP LATER TNT AS THE SFC WV
ACROSS ERN IL MOVES THROUGH THE LWR OH RVR VLY AND DRAGS A COLD FNT
SLIGHTLY SEWD.  MEANWHILE MORE MOISTURE WL BE ADVECTING INTO EAST TN
AND SW VA FROM THE WRN TN/SRN AR RGN LATER TNT.  CURRENTLY DEWPOINTS
ARE IN THE LWR/MID 70S IN THIS RGN.  MAIN DYNAMICS WL STILL BE TO OUR
NORTH AHEAD OF THE SHEARING UPR LOW.  STILL THINK THAT WIDESPREAD
FLOODING RAINS ARE UNLKLY.  SOME NEGATIVE FACTORS FOR HVY RAIN
INCLUDE...1) OUTLFOW BNDRY TO OUR SOUTH WL KEEP BEST MOISTURE POOLED
THERE 2) K-INDICES ALONG WITH PW VALUES WL BE LWR THAN THE PAST SVRL
DAYS.

SECONDARY S/W TROUGH WL MOVE THROUGH LATE WED AS THE FLOW AMPLIFIES
BIG TIME.  FNTLY BNDRY IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH LATE IN THE DAY AS
WELL.  ABUNDANT LOW LVL MOISTURE AS WELL AS COOLING OF MID LVL TEMPS
WL STEEPEN LAPSE RATES.  THUS THERE WL STILL BE A CHC FOR STORMS INTO
THE EVENING HOURS.  MUCH DRIER AND COOLER AIR WL USHER INTOB THE RGN
WED NIGHT AND THU PROVIDING THE RGN WITH A MUCH NEEDED BREAK FROM THE
SUMMERLIKE WX.  MB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Fentress	68 min
May 28, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Hancock	55 min
May 29, 1:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock, Hawkins	59 min
May 29, 1:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sullivan	55 min
May 29, 1:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Johnson	59 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.