Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Feb 22, 2003, 12:39 PM EST for Vance County, North Carolina. It was in force for 36 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
- Feb 22, 2003, 12:39 PM EST (17:39 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 22, 2003, 1:15 PM EST
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Vance County, NC
The radar
The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 9:45 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 135 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 437 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 81 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 577 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 866 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
804
WFUS52 KRAH 221739
TORRAH
NCC181-221815-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1238 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2003
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
VANCE COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
* UNTIL 115 PM EST
* AT 1238 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
TORNADO JUST SOUTH OF OXFORD...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.
* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
KITTRELL
HENDERSON
MIDDLEBURG
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 400 PM EST SATURDAY AFTERNOON
FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA.
LAT...LON 3654 7833 3626 7831 3621 7839 3621 7848
3650 7848
$$
04The office that day
Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 10:39 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Anson, Stanly | 51 min |
| Feb 22, 11:09 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Montgomery, Randolph | 36 min |
| Feb 22, 11:21 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | RAH | Forsyth, Guilford | 54 min |
| Feb 22, 11:36 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance, Chatham | 24 min |
| Feb 22, 11:43 AM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Alamance, Randolph | 32 min |
| Feb 22, 11:55 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Chatham, Orange | 35 min |
| Feb 22, 12:05 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Durham, Orange | 25 min |
| Feb 22, 12:11 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | RAH | Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford | 3 hr |
| Feb 22, 12:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Granville | 23 min |
| Feb 22, 12:26 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Lee, Moore | 34 min |
| Feb 22, 12:33 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Wake | 42 min |
| Feb 22, 12:54 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Warren | 36 min |
| Feb 22, 1:57 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Nash | 33 min |
| Feb 22, 2:12 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Edgecombe, Wilson | 33 min |
| Feb 22, 3:03 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Sampson | 27 min |
| Feb 22, 3:24 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Wayne | 36 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 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.