Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

May 9, 2003Greene County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at May 9, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT for Greene County, North Carolina. It was in force for 32 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 9, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT (00:43 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 2003, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Greene County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:46 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.

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 9, 7:20 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 1942 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1143 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.2
Supercell composite: 7.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

540 
WFUS52 KMHX 100043
TORMHX
NCC079-100115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
843 PM EDT FRI MAY 9 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT
HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  GREENE COUNTY IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT

* AT 843 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER LIZZIE...OR ABOUT 7 MILES NORTH OF SNOW
  HILL...MOVING   SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MAURY AROUND 850 PM EDT
  ORMONDSVILLE...AND HOOKERTON AROUND 900 PM EDT

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET OR BATHROOM. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR
BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO...OR TELEVISION FOR
THE LATEST SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION.

LAT...LON 3562 7765 3555 7777 3535 7763 3541 7747

20

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 8:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	40 min
May 9, 8:13 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	MHX		62 min
May 9, 8:13 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	MHX		62 min
May 9, 8:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Pamlico	29 min
May 9, 8:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Greene	26 min
May 9, 8:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pitt	29 min
May 9, 9:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Craven	34 min
May 10, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Martin	47 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.