Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Raleigh, NC

September 17, 2004Durham County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 2004, 2:50 PM EDT for Durham County, North Carolina. 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: Sep 17, 2004, 2:50 PM EDT (18:50 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2004, 3:15 PM EDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Durham County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:52 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
Sep 17, 10:10 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 92 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: 888 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 237 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 5.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KRAH 171850
TORRAH
NCC063-171915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
250 PM EDT FRI SEP 17 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 315 PM EDT

* AT 250 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER BETHESDA...OR ABOUT 4 MILES SOUTH OF DURHAM...MOVING
  NORTH AT 50 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  GORMAN...
  REDWOOD...
  ORANGE FACTORY...BAHAMA...

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. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND EXTERIOR WALLS AS FLYING DEBRIS
GENERATED BY TORNADIC WINDS CAN BE DEADLY.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 500 PM EDT FRIDAY AFTERNOON 
FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA. 

LAT...LON 3596 7898 3590 7883 3606 7875 3625 7886

$$

DGS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 10:44 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth	31 min
Sep 17, 11:03 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Guilford	12 min
Sep 17, 12:38 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Moore	37 min
Sep 17, 1:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham	36 min
Sep 17, 1:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	32 min
Sep 17, 2:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Person	46 min
Sep 17, 3:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	24 min
Sep 17, 3:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	46 min
Sep 17, 3:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	28 min
Sep 17, 4:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville	45 min
Sep 17, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	26 min
Sep 17, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	43 min
Sep 17, 5:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	36 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes in 2004

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.