Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Blacksburg, VA

June 2, 1997Wilkes County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 2, 1997, 9:30 AM EDT for Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 45 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: Jun 2, 1997, 9:30 AM EDT (13:30 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1997, 10:15 AM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Wilkes County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:30 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
Jun 2, 10:00 AM EDT	Hail 0.75	Ferguson, 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, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 719 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 709 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 102 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

685 
WUUS01 KRNK 021336 RRA
SVRRNK
NCC193-021415-

BULLETIN--IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
930 AM EDT MON JUN 2 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

   ...WESTERN WILKES COUNTY
 
AT 930 AM EDT...BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 16 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BOONE OR IN THE VICINITY OF
ELKVILLE MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH.

SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO REACH...
SUMMIT                          AROUND 1000 AM EDT
WILBAR                          AROUND 1005 AM EDT

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL.  MOVE TO INSIDE A
STURDY BUILDING IMMEDIATELY.

MV

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.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 2, 9:11 AM EDT, 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 2, 9:11 AM EDT, 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
910 AM EDT MON JUN 2 1997

CRW...GUESS WE SHUD UP THE POPS FOR THE NRV.

THNGS ARE PRETTY BUSY HERE RIGHT NOW...AND GETTING BUSIER.

CRNT WHATCHES IN PLACE OR ABOUT TO GO IN PLACE FOR THE AREA OF STORMS
MOVING UP FROM NC. BASED ON RADAR LOOP...MVMT OF THE AREA IS NNE
RIGHT UP INTO THE NRV AND SPC BELIEVES IT WILL GET WORSE.

JDS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 2, 6:34 AM EDT, 2 hours 56 minutes before

NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-
059-WVZ042>045-021600-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
630 AM EDT SUN JUN 1 1997

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE TODAY AND INTO THIS EVENING IN
NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA...

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH
CAROLINA AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA TODAY.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AND MOVE INTO
NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA LATER THIS
MORNING OR EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING. THE
ATMOSPHERE WILL BE MODERATELY UNSTABLE...AS TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL
BECOME COOLER. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH A
POSSIBILITY OF BOTH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATER TODAY.

AN UPDATED THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AT NOON
TODAY.

JACKSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 10:39 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alleghany, Ashe	66 min
Jun 2, 11:20 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alleghany	50 min
Jun 2, 1:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Surry	61 min
Jun 2, 2:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Stokes	64 min
Jun 2, 3:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Rockingham	63 min
Jun 2, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Rockingham	65 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.