Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Wilmington, NC

May 3, 2003Robeson County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at May 3, 2003, 8:20 PM EDT for Robeson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 25 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 3, 2003, 8:20 PM EDT (00:20 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 2003, 8:45 PM EDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Robeson County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:20 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.

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 3, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 192 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: 280 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -82 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 859 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

104 
WFUS52 KILM 040020
TORILM
NCC155-040045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
820 PM EDT SAT MAY 3 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  ROBESON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 845 PM EDT

* AT 815 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER PROCTORVILLE...OR ABOUT
  9 MILES SOUTH OF LUMBERTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
   RURAL SOUTHEASTERN ROBESON COUNTY AT 830 PM

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE
BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE
BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AND ASK
THEM TO RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN WILMINGTON NC.

LAT...LON 3454 7910 3451 7912 3439 7900 3452 7888

TRA

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 8:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen	72 min
May 3, 8:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	37 min
May 3, 8:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	80 min
May 3, 8:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	49 min
May 3, 9:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	74 min
May 3, 9:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	77 min
May 3, 10:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Brunswick	74 min
May 3, 11:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	92 min
May 3, 11:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	New Hanover	42 min
May 4, 12:47 AM EDT	Special Marine Warning	ILM		58 min
May 4, 12:47 AM EDT	Special Marine Warning	ILM		58 min
May 4, 1:44 AM EDT	Special Marine Warning	ILM		61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.