Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 70, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 5, 1997Halifax County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 5, 1997, 12:21 AM EDT for Halifax County, North Carolina. It was in force for 54 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: Jul 5, 1997, 12:21 AM EDT (04:21 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 1997, 1:15 AM EDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Halifax County, NC

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:20 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
Jul 5, 12:31 AM EDT	Hail 1.75	Enfield, NC	GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL FELL IN ENFIELD.

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
Jul 4, 10:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 179 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: 980 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -208 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

305 
WUUS1 KRDU 050422 RRA
SVRRDU
NCC083-050515-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
1221 AM EDT SAT JUL 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...HALIFAX COUNTY
 
AT 1220 AM...RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR SOUTHERN HALIFAX
COUNTY MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH TOWARD ENFIELD. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM
MOVE TO SAFETY IMMEDIATELY IF THIS STORM IS NEAR.

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

Local storm report, Jul 5, 12:05 AM EDT, 16 minutes before

STORM REPORT CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
1205 AM EDT SAT JUL 05 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1130 PM    DURHAM                    NC   1 INCH HAIL
07/04/97   DURHAM                         6 MILES N OF RDU AIRPORT
                                          IN DURHAM CO.

1135 PM    RALEIGH                   NC   1 INCH HAIL
07/04/97   WAKE                           I-540 AND LUMLEY ROAD -
                                          WAKE COUNTY

Local storm report, Jul 5, 12:06 AM EDT, 15 minutes before

STORM REPORT CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
1205 AM EDT SAT JUL 05 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1130 PM    DURHAM                    NC   1 INCH HAIL
07/04/97   DURHAM                         6 MILES N OF RDU AIRPORT
                                          IN DURHAM CO.

1135 PM    RALEIGH                   NC   1 INCH HAIL
07/04/97   WAKE      J                     I-540 AND LUMLEY ROAD -
                                          WAKE COUNTY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 4, 9:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson, Guilford	53 min
Jul 4, 10:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	39 min
Jul 4, 11:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham, Wake	43 min
Jul 4, 11:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	44 min
Jul 4, 11:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	46 min
Jul 5, 12:05 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Nash	25 min
Jul 5, 12:35 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wilson	25 min
Jul 5, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Anson, Richmond	37 min
Jul 5, 5:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Richmond	20 min
Jul 5, 5:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Scotland	37 min
Jul 5, 6:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke	30 min
Jul 5, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	38 min
Jul 5, 7:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	22 min
Jul 5, 7:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	26 min
Jul 5, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Halifax	34 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.