Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Morristown, TN

May 5, 2003Sequatchie County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2003, 1:35 PM CDT for Sequatchie County, Tennessee. 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 5, 2003, 1:35 PM CDT (18:35 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 2003, 2:00 PM CDT
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Morristown, TN
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Sequatchie County, TN

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:38 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 5, 8:50 AM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 142 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2003-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 616 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2003-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 575 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
616 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
622 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
575 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
604 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.0
Supercell composite
12.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

698 
WFUS54 KMRX 051835
TORMRX
TNC153-051900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
135 PM CDT MON MAY 5 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 200 PM CDT

* AT 128 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  LONE OAK...OR 8 MILES SOUTH OF DUNLAP...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

THIS WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY
ISSUED FOR THE WARNED AREA.

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 3536 8547 3524 8544 3518 8537 3536 8524

$$

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 4:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMorgan48 min
May 5, 4:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Sequatchie44 min
May 5, 4:33 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMorgan42 min
May 5, 4:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion46 min
May 5, 4:58 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamilton, Meigs, Rhea47 min
May 5, 5:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion14 min
May 5, 5:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamilton30 min
May 5, 7:32 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMorgan43 min
May 5, 8:10 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion, Sequatchie35 min
May 5, 8:26 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Hamilton, Rhea19 min
May 5, 8:36 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMeigs24 min
May 5, 8:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBradley, Hamilton, McMinn31 min
May 5, 8:49 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion41 min
May 5, 9:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMonroe40 min
May 5, 1:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion, Sequatchie26 min
May 5, 1:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamilton32 min
May 5, 2:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBradley35 min
May 5, 2:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMcMinn, Polk35 min
May 5, 5:23 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMRXMorgan, Roane3 hr
May 5, 5:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Rhea56 min
May 5, 5:38 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMRXAnderson, Blount, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Sevier3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 2003Every tornado warning in 2003Tornadoes 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.