Alert archive / Maryland / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

May 2, 2002Cecil County, Maryland

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2002, 5:21 PM EDT for Cecil County, Maryland. It was in force for 24 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: May 2, 2002, 5:21 PM EDT (21:21 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2002, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area: Whole counties

County Cecil County, MD

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 2, 5:38 PM EDT	Tornado F2	Rising Sun, MD

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, 3:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 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.

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: 12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -90 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 540 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 82 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 408 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 464 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS51 KPHI 022121
TORPHI
MDC015-022145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
522 PM EDT THU MAY 2 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY NJ HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN CECIL COUNTY IN NORTHEAST MARYLAND

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT.

* AT 519 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 6 MILES WEST OF RISING
  SUN...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A
  TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  NORTH EAST...
  RISING SUN...

FOR THE LATEST STORM INFORMATION...PLEASE TUNE TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO...YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATION...OR YOUR CABLE
TELEVISION OUTLET.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM EDT THURSDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN DELAWARE AND NORTHEASTERN MARYLAND AND NORTHWESTERN
NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. A TORNADO WATCH ALSO
REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM EDT THURSDAY EVENING FOR SOUTHEASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA.

$$

LAT...LON 3982 7623 3965 7632 3951 7591 3971 7580
          3973 7612

The office that day

Everything else NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 4:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Cecil	47 min
May 2, 5:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Cecil	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Maryland, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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.