Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Raleigh, NC

April 15, 1996Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1996, 6:41 PM EDT for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 34 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, 6:41 PM EDT (22:41 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 1996, 7:15 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 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-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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 819 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 206 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 280 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 152244
TORRDU
NCC183-152315-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
641 PM EDT MON APR 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...EASTERN WAKE COUNTY
 
AT 640 PM EDT...EMERGENCY OFFICIALS IN ZEBULON REPORTED A SECOND TORNAOD
TOUCHDOWN IN THE TOWN. THE STORM PRODUCING THE TORNADO WAS MOVING
NORTH-NORTHEAST AROUND 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
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 F
ROM 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

Local storm report, Apr 15, 5:16 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before

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

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

130-200PM  CUMBERLAND   NC       STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO SEVERAL BARNS WITH\
           NEAR LINDEN           ROOFS REMOVED.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 5:23 PM EDT, 1 hour 18 minutes before

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

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

450 PM     WAKE CNTY NR          FROM CTY 911... SEVERAL TREES DOWN WITHn
           NEW HILL     NC       SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE.

455 PM     WAKE CNTY    NC       SKYWARN... ONE HOUSE DAMAGED, POWER LINES
                                 DOWN, NEAR SHEARON HARRIS NUCLEAR PWR PLANT.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:06 PM EDT, 35 minutes before

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

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

557 PM    FROM SKYWARN RADIO OPERATORS - DIME SIZE HAIL WITH
          TREES DOWN FROM WINDS...ON GRASSHOPER RD IN EXTREME
          ERN WAKE COUNTY NEAR JOHNSTON COUNTY LINE.

KK

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:21 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

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

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

615 PM    WAKE COUNTY   NC       TORNADO SPOTTED ON THE GROUND BY LAW
          ZEBULON                ENFORCEMENT AND SEVERAL SKYWARN SPOTTERS.

KRC

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:27 PM EDT, 14 minutes before

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

TIME       COUNTY/CITY  STATE    EVENT/REMARKS

620 PM    WAKE COUNTY   NC       ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES FROM A
          ZEBULON                TORNADO...AT HIGHWAY 96 AND GRRENPACE
                                 ROAD....PER WAKE COUNTY EMERGENCY
                                 MANGAMENT
KK

Local storm report, Apr 15, 6:35 PM EDT, 6 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

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 12:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke	47 min
Apr 15, 12:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Nash	42 min
Apr 15, 1:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	46 min
Apr 15, 1:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Cumberland	32 min
Apr 15, 2:02 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett	28 min
Apr 15, 2:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	36 min
Apr 15, 5:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	39 min
Apr 15, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	29 min
Apr 15, 6:16 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Wake	29 min
Apr 15, 6:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin	38 min
Apr 15, 6:31 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett	29 min
Apr 15, 6:50 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Franklin	40 min
Apr 15, 7:01 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Nash	59 min
Apr 15, 7:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Halifax	45 min

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.