Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 12, 1996Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 1996, 1:20 PM EDT for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 25 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
Jul 12, 1996, 1:20 PM EDT (17:20 UTC)
Expired
Jul 12, 1996, 1:45 PM EDT
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:21 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 117 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1996-07-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1996-07-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 58 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
844 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 121723
TORRDU
NCC183-121745-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
120 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 NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...EASTERN WAKE COUNTY
 
AT 120 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
ABOUT 1 MILE NORTHEAST ZEBULON MOVING TO THE WEST ABOUT 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 12, 2:21 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWake13 hr
Jul 12, 1:16 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHWilson29 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.