Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 15, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 1996, 1:16 PM EDT for Wilson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 29 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
- Jul 12, 1996, 1:16 PM EDT (17:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 12, 1996, 1:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Wilson County, NC
The radar
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 12, 1:30 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Buckhorn Reservoir, NC |
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
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 140 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
- 905 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 127 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 263 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 KRDU 121719 TORRDU NCC195-121745- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC 116 PM EDT FRI JUL 12 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 145 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA ...WESTERN WILSON COUNTY AT 115 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO ABOUT 1 MILE NORTH OF BUCKHORN CROSSROAD VICINTY ON NC 581 MOVING TO THE WEST AT 35 MPH. RA TORNADOES FROM HURRICANES OR TROPICAL STORMS USUALLY FORM QUICKLY, MOVE RAPIDLY, AND CAN OCCUR REPEATEDLY FROM THE SAME BAND OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. IF THIS WARNING AFFECTS YOUR AREA AND YOU HEAR ROARING THUNDER...TAKE COVER UNTIL IT PASSES. REPORT DAMAGE TO EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 12, 2:21 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Wake | 13 hr |
| Jul 12, 1:20 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RAH | Wake | 25 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 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.