Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

October 17, 1999Onslow County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at Oct 17, 1999, 10:55 AM EDT for Onslow County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 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: Oct 17, 1999, 10:55 AM EDT (14:55 UTC)
Expired: Oct 17, 1999, 11:30 AM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Onslow County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 47 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: 472 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 454 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 297 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 335 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 4.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHAT 171457
TORMHX
NCC133-171530-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT-MOREHEAD CITY NC
1055 AM EDT SUN OCT 17 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1130 AM EDT

* AT 1055 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
A TORNADO OVER JACKSONVILLE...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH. TORNADO 
DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED NEAR INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 17 AND HIGHWAY 
24.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE...
  NEAR HALF MOON AROUND 1125 AM EDT.

TAKE COVER NOW. A TORNADO HAS BEEN SPOTTED. THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE 
DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. IF NO BASEMENT IS 
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR...IN AN INTERIOR 
HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET OR BATHROOM. USE BLANKETS OR 
PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY. ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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 Oct 17, 9:46 AM EDT, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 17, 9:46 AM EDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
946 AM EDT SUN OCT 17 1999

FEW CHNGS EXPECTED THIS UPDT. CONT TO SEE SOME BURSTS OF CONVECTION
NEAR CENTER OF IRENE WITH PRES NOT CHANGING MUCH. CONCERNED MAY SEE
SOME LOCALIZED RAINFALL AMOUNTS OVER 6 INCHES BASED OF CONVECTION
CURRENTLY SEEN ON RDR AND MORE LIKELY WHEN CENTER MVS ACRS TNGHT.
EVERYTHING IS WELL COVERED WITH FFA. WL HAVE TO WATCH FOR SOME ISOLD
TORNADOES AS SOUNDING SHOWS GOOD HELECITY WITH DECENT CAPE.

CWF...NO MJR CHNGS...MAY UP SEAS A LITTLE SRN WTRS BASED ON FPSN7.

.MHX...HURRICANE WARNING FRM HAT S AND PAMLICO SND.
       TROP STRM WARN N OF HAT AND ALB SND.
       FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL ZONES EXCEPT OUTER BANKS.
       HIGH WIND WARNING FOR CSTL PLN.

FREDERICK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 17, 2:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Martin, Washington	12 hr
Oct 17, 2:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Greene, Lenoir, Pitt	12 hr
Oct 17, 2:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Onslow	12 hr
Oct 17, 2:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Pamlico	12 hr

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.