Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 43, NWS Morristown, TN
NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at Apr 23, 1998, 12:56 PM EDT for Blount County, Tennessee. It was in force for 29 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
- Apr 23, 1998, 12:56 PM EDT (16:56 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 23, 1998, 1:25 PM EDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Morristown, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Blount County, TN
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 4.9 hours before the alert went out and 246 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
- 3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 474 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 9 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
979 WFUS01 KMRX 231658 RRA TORMRX TNC009-231725- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 1256 PM EDT THU APR 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHERN BLOUNT COUNTY IN EASTERN TENNESSEE * UNTIL 125 PM EDT * AT 1255 PM EDT... SPOTTERS INDICATED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR ROCKFORD... MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... WALLAND AT 105 PM EDT TOWNSEND AT 115 PM EDT GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
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 23, 9:48 AM EDT, 3 hours 8 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 9:48 AM EDT, 3 hours 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 948 AM EDT THU APR 23 1998 ...MAIN FCST CHALLENGES ARE CLD CVR AND PRECIP CHCS THIS AFTN... CRNT SFC ANLYS SHOS LO PRES WELL NE OF CWA ATTM. CRNT SAT PIC SHOS SOME CLRING IN THE PLATUEA...BUT THIS SHUD BE LMTD AS SFC TEMPS WARM. ATMOSPHERE FRLY STABLE ATTM...BUT AS AFTN HEATING AND CLD TEMPS (ARND -25) AT H5 WILL CREATE SOME INSTABILITY...AS SEEN YESTRDAY SHUD BECMG OR REMAIN MSTLY CLDY AND WILL SEE SCTRD -TSRA THIS AFTN. CRNT TEMPS ARE ON TRAK...SO CRNT TEMPS LUK GOOD. ..NO CHANGES NEEDED THIS UPDATE.. PDK
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 23, 12:47 PM EDT, 9 minutes before
NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-034>047-066>074-083>087-099>102-VAZ001-002-005- 006-008-232045- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 1247 PM EDT THU APR 23 1998 ...THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE HAIL ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON... AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE IS SLOWLY SHIFTING EAST THROUGH THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FEATURE IS ASSOCIATED WITH UNUSUALLY COLD AIR ALOFT FOR LATE APRIL. THE COLD AIR ALOFT IN ASSOCIATION WITH SLOWLY WARMING TEMPERATURES AT THE SURFACE HAS LEAD TO AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHEAST AND CENTRAL EAST TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON. SOME OF THE STORMS HAVE ALREADY PRODUCED HAIL AROUND THE SIZE OF A DIME IN PARTS OF CENTRAL EAST TENNESSEE AND SOME PUBLIC REPORTS INDICATE SOME OF THE HAIL HAS BEEN AS LARGE AS A QUARTER. AS TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO SLOWLY WARM THIS AFTERNOON...THE STORMS WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE PRIMARILY SMALL HAIL ALTHOUGH A FEW OF THE HAILSTONES MAY APPROACH QUARTER SIZE. IN ADDITION... THE STORMS WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH GUSTY WIND AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. THE STORMS WILL DECREASE IN INTENSITY AND COVERAGE LATER IN THE DAY AS SURFACE HEATING CEASES. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE MEDIA FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON. TH
Special weather statement, Apr 23, 12:47 PM EDT, 9 minutes before
NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-034>047-066>074-083>087-099>102-VAZ001-002-005- 006-008-232045- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN 1247 PM EDT THU APR 23 1998 ...THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE HAIL ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON... AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE IS SLOWLY SHIFTING EAST THROUGH THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FEATURE IS ASSOCIATED WITH UNUSUALLY COLD AIR ALOFT FOR LATE APRIL. THE COLD AIR ALOFT IN ASSOCIATION WITH SLOWLY WARMING TEMPERATURES AT THE SURFACE HAS LEAD TO AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHEAST AND CENTRAL EAST TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON. SOME OF THE STORMS HAVE ALREADY PRODUCED HAIL AROUND THE SIZE OF A DIME IN PARTS OF CENTRAL EAST TENNESSEE AND SOME PUBLIC REPORTS INDICATE SOME OF THE HAIL HAS BEEN AS LARGE AS A QUARTER. AS TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO SLOWLY WARM THIS AFTERNOON...THE STORMS WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE PRIMARILY SMALL HAIL ALTHOUGH A FEW OF THE HAILSTONES MAY APPROACH QUARTER SIZE. IN ADDITION... THE STORMS WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH GUSTY WIND AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. THE STORMS WILL DECREASE IN INTENSITY AND COVERAGE LATER IN THE DAY AS SURFACE HEATING CEASES. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE MEDIA FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON. TH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 12:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Hamblen | 35 min |
| Apr 23, 2:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, Knox | 35 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.