Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 7:51 PM EST for Harnett County, North Carolina. It was in force for 39 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
- Feb 21, 1997, 7:51 PM EST (00:51 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 21, 1997, 8:30 PM EST
- In force
- 39 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Harnett County, NC
The radar
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 8:05 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Dunn, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 7:30 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 122 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 68 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 973 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 73 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 420 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 574 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KRDU 220059 RRA SVRRDU NCC085-220130- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC 751 PM EST FRI FEB 21 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 830 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA ...HARNETT COUNTY AT 851 PM...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR LILLINGTON IN CENTRAL HARNETT COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH. DOWNBURST WINDS FROM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN SOMETIMES REACH 100 MPH. A POWERFUL DOWNBURST CAN BE AS BAD AS A TORNADO. THESE WINDS DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES...OVERTURN MOBILE HOMES...AND DAMAGE BUILDINGS. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND REPORT DAMAGES PROMPTLY TO EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. DELGADO
The office that day
Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 8:01 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Wake | 29 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.