Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

April 21, 1997Jones County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at Apr 21, 1997, 5:38 PM EDT for Jones County, North Carolina. It was in force for 37 min. 2 reports 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: Apr 21, 1997, 5:38 PM EDT (21:38 UTC)
Expired: Apr 21, 1997, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Jones County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:37 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
Apr 21, 5:52 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Maysville, NC
Apr 21, 6:08 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Maysville, NC	Catfish Lake Road

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
Apr 21, 4:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 51 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1181 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 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 KMHX 212138 RRA
TORMHX
NCC103-212215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT NC
538 PM EDT MON APR 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...SOUTHERN JONES COUNTY
 
AT 5:35 PM RADAR AND THE PUBLIC INDICATED TORNADOES NEAR DEPPE IN ONSLOW
COUNTY MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH. THE TORNADOES WILL BE MOVING SOUTH OF
MAYSVILLE BY 5:50 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FbLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 21, 4:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Duplin	39 min
Apr 21, 4:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	38 min
Apr 21, 4:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Jones, Onslow	26 min
Apr 21, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort	33 min
Apr 21, 5:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Jones, Onslow	44 min
Apr 21, 5:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Onslow	38 min
Apr 21, 6:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Craven	38 min
Apr 21, 7:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Craven	50 min
Apr 21, 7:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Duplin	39 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.