Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Raleigh, NC

April 15, 1996Halifax County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1996, 8:14 PM EDT for Halifax County, North Carolina. It was in force for 16 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: Apr 15, 1996, 8:14 PM EDT (00:14 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 1996, 8:30 PM EDT
In force: 16 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Halifax County, NC

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:18 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 179 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: 46 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -113 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 209 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 KRDU 160015
TORRDU
NCC083-160030-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
814 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA

   ...HALIFAX COUNTY

AT 810 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO
PRODUCING THUNDERSTORM IN HALIFAX COUNTY ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
ROANOKE RAPIDS. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH-NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MILES AN
HOUR ADN WILL PASS NEAR ROANOKE RAPIDS BY 830 PM. THIS STORM HAS
PRODUCED DAMAGE IN WAKE...FRANKLIN AND NASH COUNTIES.
^
PEOPLE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD ACT NOW TO PROTECT THEIR
LIVES. GO TO THE LOWEST FLOOR...A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM OR CLOSET.
COVER YOUR HEAD. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. GET OUT OF MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES AND INTO A STURDY BUILDING OR A DITCH.  REPORT DAMAGE
TO EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

RAN

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 39 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
634 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

630 PM    WAKE COUNTY   NC       TORNADO TOUCHDOWN NEAR WENDELL IN
          WENDELL                ERN WAKE COUNTY...PER WAKE COUNTY
                                 EMERGENCY MANGAMENT
KK

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:46 PM EDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
640 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

630 PM    WAKE COUNTY   NC       1 FATALITY FROM TORNADO...IN A
          ZEBULON                MOBILE HOME...PER SKYWARN SPOTTER
                                 ON THE SCENE

644 PM   WAKE COUNTY    NC      A SECOND TORNADO TOUCHDOWN IN
         ZEBULON                ZEBULON IN EASTERN WAKE COUNTY PER
                                WAKE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANGEMENT

KK

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 15 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
658 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

655 PM    FRANKLIN CNTY NC       TORNADO ON THE GROUND REPORTED BY
    *      5S BUNN                SKYWARN.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 7:26 PM EDT, 48 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
722 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME    COUNTY/CITY    STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

615 PM  WAKE CNTY      NC       WAKE COUNTY EOC REPORTED 17 MOBILE HOMES
        ZEBULON                 DESTROYED 4 DAMAGED IN THE WESTSIDE MOBILE
                                HOME PARK. ANY FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING
                                INJURIES, FATALITIES NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS
                     p           TIME.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 7:36 PM EDT, 38 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
734 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME    COUNTY/CITY    STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

615 PM  WAKE CNTY      NC       MAJOR DAMAGE AT THE ZEBULON MIDDLE SCHOOL
(APPROX)ZEBULON                 RECEIVED FROM TV MEDIA.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 8:10 PM EDT, 4 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
804 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996

TIME       .....CITY LOCATION.....   STATE    EVENT/REMARKS
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

715 PM     NASH COUNTY HWY 581       NC       TRAILER DESTROYED LARGE TREE
           NORTH OF SPRING HOPE               DOWN RIGHT ON TOP OF THE
                                              IN THE PEACH TREE CHURCH
                                              SUBDIVISION. NUMEROUS TREES
                                              DOWN IN THE SAME VICINITY.

KRC

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.