Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wilmington, NC

August 18, 2001Robeson County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Aug 18, 2001, 2:42 PM EDT for Robeson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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
Aug 18, 2001, 2:42 PM EDT (18:42 UTC)
Expired
Aug 18, 2001, 3:15 PM EDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Robeson County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:43 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 18, 2:45 PM EDTTornado F0Fairmont, NCA NWS site damage assessment determined a F0 tornado touched down on Broadridge Road, 1 1/2 miles off of Hwy 74W, six miles east of Fairmont. It lifted a shed and carried it 15 yards. Metal roofing was torn from a horse barn and a porch. A chain link fence

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, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 176 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2001-08-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1407 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2001-08-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 94 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1407 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
527 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

819 
WFUS52 KILM 181842
TORILM
NCC155-181915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
242 PM EDT SAT AUG 18 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ROBESON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 315 PM EDT

* AT 237 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER BARNESVILLE...OR ABOUT
  12 MILES SOUTH OF LUMBERTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
   FAIRMONT AT 245 PM EDT
   
THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WHICH
WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE SAME AREA. GO TO A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR 

.END

$$

DIGIORGI

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 18, 2:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen39 min
Aug 18, 2:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMRobeson48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes in 2001

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.