Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 1, 1997Davidson County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 1997, 3:24 PM EDT for Davidson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 36 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
May 1, 1997, 3:24 PM EDT (19:24 UTC)
Expired
May 1, 1997, 4:00 PM EDT
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Davidson County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:24 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 1, 3:37 PM EDTHail 0.75Thomasville, 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, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 43 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-05-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 173 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
864 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
212 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.

407 
WUUS1 KRDU 011925 RRA
SVRRDU
NCC057-012000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
324 PM EDT THU MAY 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTHERN DAVIDSON COUNTY
 
AT 324 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN
DAVIDSON COUNTY JUST NORTH OF LEXINGTON. IT WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH
AND WILL MOVE ACROSS THOMASVILLE BETWEEN 330 AND 400 PM. PEA TO MARBLE
SIZED HAIL HAS ALREADY BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM.
 
PEOPLE SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY ALERT FOR LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND.
FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN CAN POSE A DANGER WITH ANY
THUNDERSTORM.  SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND REPORT DAMAGE TO
EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 1, 10:33 AM EDT, 4 hours 51 minutes before
NCZ007>011-021>028-038>043-073>078-083>086-088>089- 020000

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
 1045 AM EST THU MAY 1 1997

(THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA APPLIES ONLY TO
THE COUNTIES LISTED AT THE END OF TEXT.)

 THERE IS A CHANCE OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH CENTRAL NORTH
CAROLINA THIS AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT MOVES ACROSS THE STATE. THE
STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR MAINLY NORTH AND EAST OF WAKE COUNTY.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR UPDATED INFORMATION.

 MLM

***********************************************************************

ALAMANCE          ANSON            CHATHAM           CUMBERLAND
DAVIDSON          DURHAM           EDGECOMBE         FORSYTH
FRANKLIN          GRANVILLE        GUILFORD          HALLIFAX
HARNETT           HOKE             JOHNSTON          LEE
MONTGOMERY        MOORE            NASH              ORANGE
PERSON            RANDOLPH         RICHMOND          SAMPSON
SCOTLAND          STANLY           VANCE             WAKE
WARREN            WAYNE            WILSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 1, 3:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin31 min
May 1, 3:49 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHRandolph41 min
May 1, 4:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham27 min
May 1, 4:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWake46 min
May 1, 4:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDurham28 min
May 1, 5:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin33 min
May 1, 5:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHRandolph35 min
May 1, 5:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHNash, Wake34 min
May 1, 5:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe, Wilson45 min
May 1, 6:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHJohnston, Wilson31 min
May 1, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWilson30 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.