Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 151, NWS Morristown, TN

May 3, 1998Union County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1998, 6:51 PM EDT for Union County, Tennessee. It was in force for 49 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: May 3, 1998, 6:51 PM EDT (22:51 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 7:40 PM EDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Union County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:53 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 nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 249 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: 50 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 914 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 229 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

831 
WUUS01 KMRX 032255 RRA
SVRMRX
TNC173-032340-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
651 PM EDT SUN MAY 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  UNION COUNTY IN EASTERN TENNESSEE

* UNTIL 740 PM EDT

* AT 651 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST TO THE NORTH OF HALLS... MOVING EAST AT 30
  MPH.  GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM AS IT
  MOVED ACROSS CLINTON AT 640 PM EDT.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  PAULETTE AT 705 PM EDT

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF LARGE HAIL. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS




&

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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 3, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 3, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 56 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
255 PM EDT SUN MAY 3 1998

COLD FRONT ESTIMATED BTWN BNA & CSV ATTM. SHWRS/TSTMS FORMING IN AREA
UNSTABLE AIR AHEAD OF FRNT AS SEEN IN ADAP PRODUCTS. FRNT WL CONT MOVE
E INTO WRN PORTIONS OF CWA THIS EVE AND ACRS REMAINDER OF CWA OVRNGT.
BELIEVE MUCH OF SHWR/TSTM ACTIVITY WL DIE OUT ONCE THE SUN GOES DOWN.
LIKELY POPS STILL LOOK GOOD AND WOULD RETAIN MENTION OF MAINLY THIS
EVE.

MON...FRONT WL BE TO THE E. HWVR A VORT LOBE ROTATING ARND UPPER LOW
AND AN ASSOC SFC TROF WL MOVE THRU CWA DURING THE DAY. COOL POOL ALOFT
DIRECTLY OVHD ALONG W/DAYTIME HTG WL SET OFF SCT SHWRS/TSTMS. POPS WL
BE A BIT HIGHER IN NE TN/SW VA WHERE MOISTURE WL BE DEEPEST AND
PROXIMITY TO COOLEST TEMPS ALOFT BEST.

MON NGT & TUE...WX WL BE QUIETING DOWN AS VORT LOBE..SFC TROF..AND
DEEPEST MOISTURE LIFT OUT AND UPPER RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD IN
W/ACCOMPANYING HGT RISES.  850 MB TROF LIFTS OUT W/TEMPS SLOWLY
WARMING..ESP DURING THE DAY TUES.  STILL ENUF MOISTURE ARND FOR A GOOD
DEAL OF CU SO WOULD GO WITH A PTLY CLDY BUT DRY FCST.

FWC/FAN TEMPS IN GOOD AGREEMENT AND RECMND A BLEND FOR THE UPCOMING
ZFP.

HSA

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 3, 6:04 PM EDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
604 PM EDT SUN MAY 3 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

240 PM     SPEEDWELL                 TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   CLAIBORNE

500 PM     WART CREEK AREA           TN   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   HANCOCK

500 PM     NEAR COEBURN              VA   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   WISE

502 PM     NEAR ROGERSVILLE          TN   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   HAWKINS                        HAM REPORT OF QUARTER SIZE
                                          HAIL NEAR ROGERSVILLE

540 PM     LANCING                   TN   0.88 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   MORGAN                         PUBLIC REPORT OF NICKEL SIZE
                                          HAIL

550 PM     1 W WARTBURG              TN   0.88 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   MORGAN                         HAM REPORT OF DIME TO NICKEL
                                          SIZE HAIL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 2:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne	46 min
May 3, 3:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Union	50 min
May 3, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox	47 min
May 3, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Grainger	45 min
May 3, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock	47 min
May 3, 4:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Union	46 min
May 3, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Grainger	47 min
May 3, 4:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hawkins	47 min
May 3, 5:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Cumberland	47 min
May 3, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	46 min
May 3, 5:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan	45 min
May 3, 5:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson	49 min
May 3, 6:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson	29 min
May 3, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox	44 min
May 3, 7:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Grainger, Knox	41 min
May 3, 7:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamblen, Jefferson	43 min
May 3, 7:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount, Sevier	60 min
May 3, 7:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox	33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Tennessee, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.