Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wilmington, NC

July 5, 1997Robeson County, North Carolina; Dillon County, South Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 1997, 6:35 PM EDT for Robeson County, North Carolina; Dillon County, South Carolina. It was in force for 30 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 5, 1997, 6:35 PM EDT (22:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 1997, 7:05 PM EDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Robeson County, NC, Dillon County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:37 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 5, 6:50 PM EDT	Tornado F1	St Pauls, NC	TORNADO REPORTD BY SKYWARN SPOTTER AS WELL AS ROBESON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN AND 1 MOBILE HOME WAS OVERTURNED

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

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, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 184 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: 44 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -186 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1120 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KILM 052238 RRB
TORILM
NCC155-SCC033-052305-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 705 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

   ...ROBESON COUNTY

IN NORTHEASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA

   ...EXTREME NORTHERN DILLON COUNTY
 
AT 634 PM EDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR
9 MILES NORTHWEST OF SOUTH OF THE BORDER MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

THIS STORM WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
        RAEMON                  BY 635 PM EDT
        SOUTH OF THE BORDER     BY 640 PM EDT
 
ANOTHER\ POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED NEAR RED SPRINGS MOVING
TOWARD ST. PAULS.

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.

ESCUDE

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, 6:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	New Hanover, Pender	35 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, 6:48 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
Jul 5, 4:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Georgetown	48 min
Jul 5, 5:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Horry	62 min
Jul 5, 5:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Marlboro	45 min
Jul 5, 6:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Williamsburg	43 min
Jul 5, 6:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Dillon	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1997 Tornado Warnings in South 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.