Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 2, 2003Harnett County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 2003, 3:14 PM EDT for Harnett County, North Carolina. It was in force for 31 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: Jul 2, 2003, 3:14 PM EDT (19:14 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2003, 3:45 PM EDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Harnett County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:14 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
Jul 2, 2:55 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 573 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 324 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 511 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KRAH 021914
TORRAH
NCC085-021945-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
313 PM EDT WED JUL 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  HARNETT COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 345 PM EDT

* AT 313 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 6 MILES SOUTH OF SEMINOLE...OR ABOUT 11 MILES WEST OF
  LILLINGTON...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  LILLINGTON
  BUIES CREEK

RADAR IS INDICATING A POSSIBLE TORNADO ROUGHLY 11 MILES WEST OF 
LILLINGTON. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF 
THIS STORM TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

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 WEDNESDAY EVENING
FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA.

LAT...LON 3544 7910 3527 7903 3537 7858 3557 7890

$$

14

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 1:29 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Moore	46 min
Jul 2, 2:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke, Scotland	30 min
Jul 2, 2:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett, Lee	41 min
Jul 2, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	44 min
Jul 2, 5:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Sampson	40 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.