Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 32, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 1, 1997Chatham County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 1997, 4:18 PM EDT for Chatham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 27 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: May 1, 1997, 4:18 PM EDT (20:18 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 1997, 4:45 PM EDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Chatham County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 72 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: 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.

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 012019 RRA
SVRRDU
NCC037-012045-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
418 PM EDT THU MAY 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  445 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...CHATHAM COUNTY
 
AT 417 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTH CENTRAL
CHATHAM COUNTY NORTH OF PITTSBORO. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH
AND WILL BE MOVING ACROSS JORDAN LAKE AROUND 430 PM. BOATERS ON THE LAKE
SHOULD SEEK SHELTER NOW. STORMS THIS AFTERNOON HAVE HAD A HISTORY OF
LARGE HAIL.
 
 
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, 5 hours 45 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 3:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson	36 min
May 1, 3:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	31 min
May 1, 3:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	41 min
May 1, 4:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	46 min
May 1, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham	28 min
May 1, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	33 min
May 1, 5:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	35 min
May 1, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Nash, Wake	34 min
May 1, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Edgecombe, Wilson	45 min
May 1, 6:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston, Wilson	31 min
May 1, 7:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wilson	30 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.