Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 5, 1997Rockingham County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Mar 5, 1997, 5:59 PM EST for Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 31 min. 3 reports 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: Mar 5, 1997, 5:59 PM EST (22:59 UTC)
Expired: Mar 5, 1997, 6:30 PM EST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Rockingham County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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
Mar 5, 6:00 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind	Countywide, NC
Mar 5, 6:10 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind	Eden, NC
Mar 5, 6:15 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 51	Eden, 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
Mar 5, 3:15 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 37 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KROA 052300 RRA
TORRNK
NCC157-052330-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
559 PM EST WED MAR 5 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

   ...ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
 
AT 559 PM EST...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY BLACKSBURG
DOPPLER RADAR 29 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF MARTINSVILLE OR WEST OF
PINE HALL NORTH CAROLINA... MOVING EAST AT 46 MPH.

THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
 ELLISBORO                       AROUND 605 PM EST
 INTELLIGENCE                    AROUND 612 PM EST
 BETHANY                         AROUND 614 PM EST
 MONROETON                       AROUND 622 PM EST
 REIDSVILLE                      AROUND 628 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.  AVOID 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, 5:42 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RNK	Stokes	33 min
Mar 5, 5:50 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Rockingham	65 min
Mar 5, 6:18 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Caswell	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.