Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 247

May 3, 199718 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 3, 1997, 11:30 AM EDT for 18 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 3, 1997, 11:30 AM EDT (15:30 UTC)
Expired
May 3, 1997, 2:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Beaufort County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Pender County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:33 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.

Warnings issued inside it

1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 11:36 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAKQCurrituck39 min

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 14 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 832 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 169 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
832 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
584 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 8:00 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 43 more6 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Carolina, 1997Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.