Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Morristown, TN

May 15, 2003Monroe County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 7:49 PM EDT for Monroe County, Tennessee. It was in force for 41 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 15, 2003, 7:49 PM EDT (23:49 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 8:30 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Monroe County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:50 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 15, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 663 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

672 
WFUS54 KMRX 152349
TORMRX
TNC123-160030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
749 PM EDT THU MAY 15 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MONROE COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE

* UNTIL 830 PM EDT

* AT 745 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR VONORE...OR 10
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF LOUDON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  CITICO BEACH AROUND 805 PM EDT
  TARIFFVILLE AROUND 810 PM EDT
  CITICO AROUND 825 PM EDT

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

LAT...LON 3565 8417 3564 8452 3521 8431 3547 8391

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 3:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan, Scott	49 min
May 15, 3:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan, Scott	45 min
May 15, 3:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Morgan, Scott	28 min
May 15, 3:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Anderson	66 min
May 15, 4:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Knox	43 min
May 15, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox	42 min
May 15, 4:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Knox	27 min
May 15, 5:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Blount	55 min
May 15, 5:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan	43 min
May 15, 5:23 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Knox	37 min
May 15, 5:24 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Sevier	51 min
May 15, 5:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Loudon, Monroe	37 min
May 15, 6:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	30 min
May 15, 6:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sevier	33 min
May 15, 6:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Monroe	42 min
May 15, 6:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Blount	32 min
May 15, 6:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Roane	31 min
May 15, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Knox	39 min
May 15, 6:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	46 min
May 15, 7:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sevier	47 min
May 15, 7:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Loudon	43 min
May 15, 7:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Greene	40 min
May 15, 7:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MRX	Loudon	36 min
May 15, 7:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 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.