Alert archive / New Jersey / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

May 31, 2002Somerset County, New Jersey

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this tornado warning at May 31, 2002, 8:58 PM EDT for Somerset County, New Jersey. It was in force for 32 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 31, 2002, 8:58 PM EDT (00:58 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2002, 9:30 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area: Whole counties

County Somerset County, NJ

The radar

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:59 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 31, 9:05 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Woods Tavern, NJ
May 31, 9:10 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Harlingen, NJ

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 31, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 151 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: 817 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -116 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 282 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

440 
WFUS51 KPHI 010058
TORPHI
NJC035-010130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
859 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY NJ HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN SOMERSET COUNTY IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY

* UNTIL 930 PM EDT.

* AT 854 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  MILLSTONE...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A
  TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

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

$$

LAT...LON 4058 7465 4042 7476 4037 7462 4051 7446

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 8:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Morris	44 min
May 31, 8:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Hunterdon, Somerset	45 min
May 31, 9:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Mercer, Middlesex	54 min
May 31, 9:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Monmouth	52 min
May 31, 9:41 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	PHI		49 min
May 31, 10:44 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	PHI		76 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Jersey, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.