Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 9, NWS Wakefield, VA
NWS Wakefield, VA issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2002, 6:45 PM EDT for Northampton County, North Carolina. It was in force for 30 min. 2 reports 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
- May 2, 2002, 6:45 PM EDT (22:45 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 2002, 7:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wakefield, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Northampton County, NC
The radar
The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:46 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 7:00 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Conway, NC | Trees down. Roof damage and windows blown out in residence. |
| May 2, 7:10 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Seaboard, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 4:00 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 188 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
- 1899 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 546 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 72 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 255 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 399 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.7
- Supercell composite
- 13.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS51 KAKQ 022245 TORAKQ NCC131-022315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA 645 PM EDT THU MAY 2 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHAMPTON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 715 PM EDT * AT 645 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER HENRICO...MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. * THE STORM PRODUCING THE TORNADO WILL REACH... GASTON AND GUM FORKS AROUND 650 PM TURNERS CROSSROADS AROUND 655 PM GUMBERRY AND GARYSBURG AROUND 700 PM SEABOARD AROUND 705 PM FALSONS OLD TAVERN AND GALATIA AROUND 710 PM CONWAY AND MILWAUKEE AROUND 715 PM 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 IF YOU ARE IN A CAR...ABANDON IT AND GO TO A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD $$ REILLY && LAT...LON 3662 7784 3644 7788 3632 7719 3654 7714
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 6:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Northampton | 40 min |
| May 2, 7:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Hertford, Northampton | 39 min |
| May 2, 7:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AKQ | Northampton | 29 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.