Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 25, 1996Harnett County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 25, 1996, 7:40 PM EDT for Harnett County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 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 25, 1996, 7:40 PM EDT (23:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 25, 1996, 8:15 PM EDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Harnett County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:44 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, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 122 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 1996-07-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1413 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-07-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 48 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
1413 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 252342
TORRDU
NCC085-260015-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
740 PM EDT THU JUL 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...HARNETT COUNTY
 
AT 735 PM A HARNETT COUNTY FIREMAN REPORTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 7 MILE
SOUTHWEST OF LILLINGTON MOVING NORTHEAST.
 
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.
 
 
 
&

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

Special weather statement, Jul 25, 6:49 PM EDT, 51 minutes before
NCZ010>017-026>028-030>032-043-102-260000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
644 PM EDT THU JUL 25 1996

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 849 IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR ANY
COUNTIES IN NORTH CAROLINA.  THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WHICH PRODUCED
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT HAS MOVED INTO VIRGINIA.  ALTHOUGH THE
WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE
OVER NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA FOR THE REMAINDER OF TONIGHT.

END

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 25, 12:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHSampson36 min
Jul 25, 12:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHGuilford2 hr
Jul 25, 6:51 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHHarnett39 min
Jul 25, 7:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHHarnett35 min
Jul 25, 7:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHMoore33 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.