Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Blacksburg, VA
NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Mar 5, 1997, 5:42 PM EST for Stokes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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
- Mar 5, 1997, 5:42 PM EST (22:42 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 5, 1997, 6:15 PM EST
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Blacksburg, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Stokes County, NC
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:46 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 3:15 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 47 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1128 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 56 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 66 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 139 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 KROA 052243 RRA TORRNK NCC169-052315- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 542 PM EST WED MAR 5 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA ...STOKES COUNTY AT 541 PM EST...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR 16 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF MT AIRY OR 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF VADE MECUM MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF... VADE MECUM AROUND 544 PM EST CAPELLA AROUND 545 PM EST DANBURY AROUND 552 PM EST MEADOWS AROUND 554 PM EST DILLARD AROUND 601 PM EST PRESTONVILLE AROUND 601 PM EST PINE HALL AROUND 605 PM EST IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE..SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVlOID WINDOWS. GILLEN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 5, 4:08 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Watauga | 62 min |
| Mar 5, 4:35 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Wilkes | 60 min |
| Mar 5, 4:41 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Alleghany | 49 min |
| Mar 5, 4:58 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Surry | 62 min |
| Mar 5, 5:12 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Yadkin | 63 min |
| Mar 5, 5:29 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Stokes | 61 min |
| Mar 5, 5:50 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 65 min |
| Mar 5, 5:59 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 31 min |
| Mar 5, 6:18 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Caswell | 62 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.