Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 643

July 24, 199728 counties in North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 24, 1997, 2:30 AM EDT for 28 counties in North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 24, 1997, 2:30 AM EDT (06:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 24, 1997, 8:00 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 33 counties

Anson County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Greene County, NC, Harnett County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lee County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Moore County, NC, Nash County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pender County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Wake County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Chesterfield County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro County, SC

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 6:31 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Harnett	2 hr
Jul 24, 6:51 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Lee	69 min
Jul 24, 7:33 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Wake	87 min

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 165 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: 1496 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KNAW 240632 COR
MKC WW 240619
SCZ000-NCZ000-241200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 643
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
219 AM EDT THU JUL 24 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   EASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA
   SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AND NORTH CAROLINA
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING FROM 230 AM UNTIL 800 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF
A LINE FROM 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FLORENCE SOUTH CAROLINA TO 35
MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF NEW BERN NORTH CAROLINA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 642...

DISCUSSION...POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES THIS MORNING IN
ADVANCE OF CIRCULATION CENTER ASSOCIATED WITH FORMER T.D. "DANNY."
COLUMBIA SC VWP SHOWS 40-50 KT LOW- TO MID LEVEL SPEED MAX ROTATING
ENE AROUND SOUTHERN FRINGE OF SYSTEM...COUPLED WITH 10-15 KT SSELY
FLOW NEAR THE SURFACE...IS SERVING TO ENHANCE LOW LEVEL SHEAR.
HIGH SURFACE DEWPOINTS /MID 70S/ AND WARM TEMPERATURES /UPPER 70S
TO LOWER 80S/ ARE YIELDING INFLOW CAPE IN EXCESS OF 2000 J/KG.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO   EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO
70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.  MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 24025.


...CORFIDI

;345,0802 361,0775 344,0764 332,0791;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 8:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Edgecombe and 19 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 1997 Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 1997 Every tornado 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.