Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 293, NWS Morristown, TN

October 26, 1997Cherokee County, North Carolina

NWS Morristown, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 26, 1997, 5:40 PM EST for Cherokee County, North Carolina. It was in force for 50 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
Oct 26, 1997, 5:40 PM EST (22:40 UTC)
Expired
Oct 26, 1997, 6:30 PM EST
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS Morristown, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Cherokee County, NC

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 130 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:41 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 nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 200 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-10-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 265 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-10-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 368 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
265 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
503 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
438 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMRX 262241 RRA
SVRMRX
NCC039-262330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
540 PM EST SUN OCT 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...CHEROKEE COUNTY
 
AT 539 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER CHEROKEE COUNTY ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
MURPHY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO 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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 26, 3:01 PM EST, 2 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 26, 3:01 PM EST, 2 hours 39 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
3 PM EST SUN OCT 26 1997

TON...COLD FRONT APPRCHG MIDDLE TN ATTM WL MOVE THRU PLATEAU EARLY
EVENING..CNTRL VALLEY BEFORE MDNGT..NE TN/SW SHRTLY THEREAFTER.  WOULD
FCST CHC POPS FOR PLATEAU..LIKELY ELSW.  WOULD CONT WORDING AS
SHWRS..PSBL TSTMS.

MON...TIME SXNS AND FCST SNDGS SHOW PLENTY OF 70+ PCT RH LINGERING
AFTER FROPA. 850 MB TROF STILL TO THE W MOST OF THE DAY SO XPCT
OVC SC DECK.  500 MB TROF/VORT LOBE SWINGING THRU AS WELL. W/STRONG
CAA TAKING PLACE BELIEVE A FEW INSTABILITY SHWRS MAY DVLP..MAINLY IN
NE TN/NRN MTS. RECMND SLGT CHC POPS THERE.  WOULD CONT BREEZY MENTION.
MAY EVEN WANT TO MENTION WINDY FOR MTN COUNTIES W/SUSTAINED WINDS
20-25 AND GUSTY.

MON NGT & TUES...SKIES WL CLR OUT AS TROFS MOVE E AND PATTERN BEGINS
TO SHIFT TO A MORE ZONAL CONFIGURATION.

CRW..AGREE W/CHC POPS FOR SW VA MONDAY.

PREFER FWC VALUES THRU THE PD.

HSA

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1997Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.