Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

August 5, 1997Lenoir County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 1997, 6:57 PM EDT for Lenoir County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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: Aug 5, 1997, 6:57 PM EDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 1997, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Lenoir County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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
Aug 5, 7:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Sandy Bottom, NC	Numerous trees down along Highway 11 near Route 55.

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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 297 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -143 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1102 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 50 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMHX 052257 RRA
SVRMHX
NCC107-052330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT NC
657 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...LENOIR COUNTY
 
AT 655 PM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED JUST NORTH OF DEEP RUN. THIS
STORM WILL AFFECT AREAS FROM KINSTON TO GRAINGERS THROUGH 730 PM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  AVOID STANDING BY WINDOWS. ONLY USE TELEPHONES
AND ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES FOR EMERGENCY PURPOSES UNTIL THE STORM
>HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD SLOW DOWN WHEN DRIVING THROUGH HEAVY
RAIN AND BE ALERT FOR AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 5, 2:10 PM EDT, 4 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 2:10 PM EDT, 4 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
210 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 1997

RDU: INCLUDE WDLY SCT TSRA ERLY THIS EVE...OTRW BECMG MOCLR W/ SUM BR
ARND LT. PRTLY/MOSNY WED...PC N TO MO CLDY S AND W WED NGT/THU. CAN HOLD
OFF ON POPS E THU GIVEN UNCERTAINTY. TEMPS CLS TO FWC BUT AOB AT NGT.

CWF: LGT N/NE GRAD OVR THE WTRS THIS AFTN LOOKS TO CONT AND GRDLY BCM A
BIT BTR PRONOUNCED LTR TNGT AS SEA BRZ RELAXES AND VORT PASSES N. AS RDG
BLDS N AND WK WVS REMAIN S APRS OVRALL NE TRAJ TO CONT WED/WED NGT WITH
SPDS ARND 15 KTS SO WL RECOMBO WTRS THIS EVE. WL BUMP GRAD UP TO 15-20 KT
THU BUT HOLD NE OR E FETCH LNGR PER AVN W/ RDG LKLY TO PERSIST GIVEN LTL
BACKING FLW ALF. SEAS GNRLY 3-4 FT THRU THU.

ZFP: RADAR/SATL SHWG WDLY SCT TSRA ACRS VA AND A FEW ALNG WK SEA BRZ OVR
THE SE. XPCT SOME OF THIS VA ACTION MAY ADVCT SWD ALNG INLND ADAP/CAPE
INSTAB FLDS ERLY ON OTRW WDLY SCT CSTL TSRA LKLY THE MN ACTION THRU SUNSET.
WK MID LVL LIFT FRM VORT PASSING N ALSO TO CONT AC ERLY W/ CLRG AND PTCHY
FG IN LGT NE FLW. GOOD SINKING MOTION W/ DEEP RH AND FRNT S WED SHUD ALLOW
FOR MNLY SNY BEFORE 8H FLW BEGINS TO BCK IN ADVNC OF NXT S/W APCHG FRM THE
UPR MIDWST. MDLS SHWG DIFFS WED NGT/THU W/ NWD EXTNT OF RH FLDS AS ETA/
NGM TENDING TO BRNG SECONDRY IMPLS FURTHR S THAN AVN. GIVEN AMT OF INSTAB
SEEN PER ETA IN ONSHORE TRAJ...LTL BACKING ALF AND TENDENCY OF SFC RDG TO
WEDGE SWD THNK BST TO CONT W/ DRIER AVN SOLN FOR NOW. GUID TEMPS CLS BUT
LK COOLER FAN AT NGT AND WRMR FWC FOR HIGHS GIVEN DWPTS AND LGT GRAD.

.MHX...NONE.
JH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 5, 5:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Duplin, Onslow	57 min
Aug 5, 5:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Duplin	30 min
Aug 5, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Jones	32 min
Aug 5, 6:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Craven, Jones	44 min
Aug 5, 6:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Duplin	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.