Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

May 24, 1999Hyde County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at May 24, 1999, 5:52 PM EDT for Hyde County, North Carolina. It was in force for 53 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 24, 1999, 5:52 PM EDT (21:52 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 1999, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Hyde County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 575 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -73 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 951 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 129 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 3.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHAT 242153
TORMHX
NCC095-242245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT-MOREHEAD CITY NC
552 PM EDT MON MAY 24 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA FOR...
  HYDE COUNTY

* UNTIL 645 PM EDT

* AT 552 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  A TORNADO 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAKE MATTAMUSKEET...MOVING EAST AT
  25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE...
  NEAR LAKE MATTAMUSKEET AROUND 610 PM EDT.
  NEAR ENGELHARD AROUND 635 PM EDT.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITzCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT. COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

PLEASE REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR RELAY TO
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

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 Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 24, 2:07 PM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 2:07 PM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
207 PM EDT MON MAY 24 1999

SHOWERS/TSTMS STARTING TO FIRE IN AXIS OF INSTABILITY OVER THE WRN
MHX CWA WITH LIS DOWN TO -6.  SFC COLDFRONT NOW BETWEEN GSO AND RDU
AND WORKING EAST. WILL CARRY A CHC POP TO COVER ANY EVENING ACTIVITY.
MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT WITH TAKING FRONT OFFSHORE BETWEEN 00Z
AND 06Z TONIGHT AS H5 LOW OVER THE GREAT LAKES MOVES NE INTO CANADA.
BEHIND THE FRONT...EXPECT LOWER DEWPOINTS WITH DOWNSLOPING FLOW
TUES. MODEL TIME-SECTIONS AGREE ON BRINGING MORE CLOUDS INTO THE AREA LATE
TUES NIGHT/WEDS AS MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH H5 CLOSED LOW OVER THE
DESERT SOUTHWEST GETS CAUGHT UP IN STRONG ZONAL FLOW AND COMES EAST.
FOR TEMPS...LCL SCHEME CONTINUING ITS TREND OF BEING TOO LOW FOR
MINS...SO WILL TWEAK MINS TOWARD NGM MOS. MAXES FROM THE VARIOUS
METHODS ARE CLOSE...SO NO PROBLEM THERE.

COASTAL...CONTINUED SCA FOR THE FIRST PERIOD...BUT WINDS SHOULD DROP
OFF WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE LATER TONIGHT. DIRECTIONS A LTL TOUGH FOR
TUESDAY...BUT WILL CALL IT NW BECOMING SW IN THE AFTERNOON.

.MHX...SCA CSTL WTRS AND SNDS.

COLLINS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 7:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Hyde	53 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.