Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 31, NWS Morristown, TN
NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at Apr 16, 1998, 7:25 PM EDT for Lee County, Virginia. It was in force for 65 min. 1 report 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
- Apr 16, 1998, 7:25 PM EDT (23:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 16, 1998, 8:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 65 min
- Issued by
- NWS Morristown, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lee County, VA
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:28 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 | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 16, 7:30 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Countywide, VA |
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 nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 297 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
- 78 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 807 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 80 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 90 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
222 WFUS01 KMRX 162326 RRA TORMRX VAC105-170030- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 725 PM EDT THU APR 16 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... LEE COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA * UNTIL 830 PM EDT * AT 725 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO OVER EWING... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... JONESVILLE BY 735 PM EDT ABANDON MOBILE HOMES GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Apr 16, 3:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 3:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 55 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 330 PM EDT THU APR 16 1998 ONCE AGAIN...VERY BUSY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. BIGGEST PROB O THE DAY IS TORNADO WATCH...BUT AS EVENING COMES THIS WILL DIMINISH AND FLASH FLOODING WILL BECOME THE THREAT OVERNIGHT. RECOMMEND FFA FOR ENTIRE CWA...THIS INCLUDES VA AND NC COUNTIES. REASONING INCLUDES EXTREME PW VALUES (1.5)...UNIDIRECTIONAL WIND PROFILE...AND THICKNESS DIFLUENCE WHICH ALLOW FOR REDEVELOPMENT OF CELLS AND TRAINING OF ECHOES. BELV POPS COULD BE RAISED TO REFLECT HEAVY RAIN OVER NIGHT. ALL AREAS ARE GOING TO RECEIVE MEASURABLE RAIN TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. BB
The office that day
Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 15, 8:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Russell | 47 min |
| Apr 16, 10:33 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MRX | Lee | 4 hr |
| Apr 16, 10:33 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | MRX | Wise | 4 hr |
| Apr 16, 4:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Lee | 64 min |
| Apr 16, 4:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Scott | 47 min |
| Apr 16, 5:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Washington | 64 min |
| Apr 16, 7:07 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Lee | 48 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Virginia, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.