Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Wilmington, NC

July 5, 1997Robeson County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 1997, 7:13 PM EDT for Robeson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 32 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, 7:13 PM EDT (23:13 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 1997, 7:45 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Robeson County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:12 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 5, 7:19 PM EDT	Hail 0.88	Lumberton, NC

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 nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 176 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 052314 RRA
TORILM
NCC155-052345-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

   ...NORTHERN ROBESON COUNTY
 
THE PREVIOUS TORNADO WARNING FOR ROBESON COUNTY IS BEING EXTENDED.
AT 711 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR ST. PAULS
MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. THE STORM SHOULD EXIT THE COUNTY BY 745 PM.
 
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, 6:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Robeson	30 min
Jul 5, 6:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Bladen	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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.