Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wilmington, NC

May 31, 2003Bladen County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at May 31, 2003, 4:12 PM EDT for Bladen County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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 31, 2003, 4:12 PM EDT (20:12 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2003, 4:45 PM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Bladen County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:13 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 31, 2:55 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 144 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: 31 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1356 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KILM 312012
TORILM
NCC017-312045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
411 PM EDT SAT MAY 31 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  BLADEN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 445 PM EDT

* AT 408 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER ELIZABETHTOWN...OR
  ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ELIZABETHTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
   WHITE LAKE AROUND 420 PM
   LAGOON AROUND 425 PM
   KELLY AROUND 440 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 

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.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT SATURDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA AND NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA.

LAT...LON 3473 7869 3465 7835 3458 7828 3451 7826
          3446 7819 3439 7827 3458 7877

$$

DIGIORGI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 3:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	59 min
May 31, 3:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen	61 min
May 31, 4:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Bladen	66 min
May 31, 4:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus, Pender	57 min
May 31, 5:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Brunswick, Columbus	53 min
May 31, 5:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	New Hanover	73 min
May 31, 5:43 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	ILM		92 min
May 31, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Robeson	57 min
May 31, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen	38 min
May 31, 7:04 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Bladen	26 min
May 31, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Pender	49 min
May 31, 7:51 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	ILM		84 min
May 31, 7:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen, Robeson	52 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.