Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Wilmington, NC

November 2, 1997Columbus County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Nov 2, 1997, 2:16 AM EST for Columbus 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
Nov 2, 1997, 2:16 AM EST (07:16 UTC)
Expired
Nov 2, 1997, 2:50 AM EST
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Columbus County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:20 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 172 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 1997-11-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 88 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, Newport, NC at 00:00Z on 1997-11-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 80 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
88 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
695 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 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 KILM 020716 RRA
TORILM
NCC047-020750-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
216 AM EST SUN NOV 2 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A...

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  COLUMBUS COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 250 AM EST

 
* AT 214 AM EST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO
ALONG HIGHWAY 707 BETWEEN TABOR CITY AND NAKINA OR 16 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF LAKE WACCAMAW MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
        LAKE WACCAMAW           BY 230 AM EST
        WHITEVILLE              BY 230 AM EST
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLO*OR OF A BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...LAY
DOWN IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LGE/JAH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 2, 2:04 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMColumbus46 min
Nov 2, 2:29 AM ESTTornado WarningILMBladen31 min
Nov 2, 2:41 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBrunswick59 min
Nov 2, 3:10 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMNew Hanover, Pender45 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.