Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 47, NWS Raleigh, NC

September 28, 2004Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 28, 2004, 4:40 AM EDT for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 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 28, 2004, 4:40 AM EDT (08:40 UTC)
Expired: Sep 28, 2004, 5:15 AM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wake County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:41 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 nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 113 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 471 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 195 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KRAH 280840
TORRAH
NCC183-280915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
440 AM EDT TUE SEP 28 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 515 AM EDT

* AT 440 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 7 MILES SOUTH OF LAKE WHEELER...OR ABOUT 14 MILES SOUTH OF
  RALEIGH...MOVING NORTH AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  LAKE WHEELER AND GARNER AROUND 445 AM...
  WEST RALEIGH AND DOWNTOWN RALEIGH AROUND 455 AM...
  NORTH RALEIGH AROUND 500 AM...
  BAYLEAF AROUND 510 AM...

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 1000 PM EDT MONDAY EVENING
FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA.

LAT...LON 3601 7853 3566 7857 3562 7858 3557 7866
      3557 7876 3557 7880 3592 7880 3591 7879
      3593 7873 3598 7870 3604 7872 3602 7874
      3606 7874 3606 7869

$$

04

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 27, 11:08 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Forsyth	22 min
Sep 27, 11:45 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford	4 hr
Sep 28, 12:33 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Stanly	3 hr
Sep 28, 2:56 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Cumberland	49 min
Sep 28, 2:59 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Randolph	2 hr
Sep 28, 3:51 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford	3 hr
Sep 28, 4:09 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Harnett	36 min
Sep 28, 5:06 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Randolph	114 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.