Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Wilmington, NC

July 5, 1997New Hanover County, Pender County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 1997, 6:10 PM EDT for New Hanover County, Pender 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 5, 1997, 6:10 PM EDT (22:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 1997, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

Counties New Hanover County, NC, Pender County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:12 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 5, 2:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 103 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: 3402 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 721 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

953 
WFUS1 KILM 072218
TORILM
NCC129-141-072240-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
610 PM EDT SAT JUL 5 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

   ...ROBESON COUNTY

A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS MOVING TO EAST 2 MILES NORTH OF WILMINGTON.
THIS STORM WILL AFFECT CASTLE HAYNE...OGDEN AND WRIGHTSBORO.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

HEWITT/GROH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 5, 4:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Pender	46 min
Jul 5, 4:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	49 min
Jul 5, 5:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Pender	49 min
Jul 5, 5:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	47 min
Jul 5, 6:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	47 min
Jul 5, 6:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	49 min
Jul 5, 6:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Robeson	30 min
Jul 5, 6:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Bladen	32 min
Jul 5, 7:13 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Robeson	32 min
Jul 5, 7:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 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.