Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Wakefield, VA

July 24, 1997Isle of Wight County, City of Suffolk, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at Jul 24, 1997, 1:21 PM EDT for Isle of Wight County, City of Suffolk, Virginia. 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: Jul 24, 1997, 1:21 PM EDT (17:21 UTC)
Expired: Jul 24, 1997, 1:55 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Whole counties

Counties City of Suffolk, VA, Isle of Wight County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 37 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 24, 8:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 1048 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 442 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAKQ 241720 RRA
TORAKQ
VAC093-800-241755-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
121 PM EDT THU JUL 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD VA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 155 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA

   ...EASTERN ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY

IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF

   ...NORTHERN SUFFOLK


 
AT 120 PM...RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO ABOUT 5 MILES
NORTH OF DOWNTOWN SUFFOLK MOVING NORTHWARD AROUND 20 MILES PER
HOUR.  THE STORM WILL MOVE INTO THE BENNS CHURCH AREA OF ISLE OF
WIGHT COUNTY BY 145 PM.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PROJECTED PATH OF THE TORNADO SHOULD TAKE SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY.  MOVE INSIDE A STORM CELLAR...A BASEMENT...OR A SMALL
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOUSE.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS AFTER
THE STORM HAS PASSED AND ASK THEM TO RELAY YOUR INFORMATION TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

SAMMLER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 1:19 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Chesapeake, City of Norfolk	31 min
Jul 24, 2:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Virginia Beach	35 min
Jul 24, 2:08 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Northampton	37 min
Jul 24, 2:27 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Virginia Beach	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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.