Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Wakefield, VA
NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 2002, 8:20 PM EDT for Hertford County, Northampton County, North Carolina. It was in force for 45 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 28, 2002, 8:20 PM EDT (00:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 2002, 9:05 PM EDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wakefield, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Hertford County, NC, Northampton County, NC
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:24 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 28, 8:40 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Murfreesboro, NC |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 6:45 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 3 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 181 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
- 1496 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -79 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 904 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 56 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 288 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 383 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.8
- Supercell composite
- 12.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS51 KAKQ 290020 TORAKQ NCC091-131-290105- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA 820 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... HERTFORD COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA NORTHAMPTON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 905 PM EDT * AT 820 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 2 MILES SOUTH OF SEABOARD... MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR JACKSON AND MARGARETTSVILLE AT 825 PM FALSONS OLD TAVERN AND CREEKSVILLE AT 830 PM MILWAUKEE AND CONWAY AT 835 PM WOODLAND AND GEORGE AT 840 PM MENOLA AND MURFREESBORO AT 845 PM SAINT JOHN AND MAPLETON AT 850 PM GO TO A BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. $$ HURLEY LAT...LON 3657 7751 3640 7758 3623 7698 3644 7690
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 8:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Gates | 32 min |
| Apr 28, 9:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Pasquotank, Perquimans | 44 min |
| Apr 28, 9:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | AKQ | Chowan | 28 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes in 2002
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.