Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 5, NWS Raleigh, NC

February 21, 1997Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 8:01 PM EST for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 29 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
Feb 21, 1997, 8:01 PM EST (01:01 UTC)
Expired
Feb 21, 1997, 8:30 PM EST
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:00 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 21, 7:30 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 117 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 00:00Z on 1997-02-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 68 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 00:00Z on 1997-02-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 420 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 220101 RRA
SVRRDU
NCC183-220130-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
801 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 NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...WAKE COUNTY
 
AT 800 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
OVER WESTERN WAKE COUNTY NEAR THE RALEIGH-DURHAM AIRPORT. WINDS OF 64
MPH WERE RECORDED AT THE AIRPORT SHORTLY BEFORE 800 PM.
 
 
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.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 21, 7:51 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHHarnett39 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.