Tornado Warning in Norfolk, VA

[rainydaze]

Reported by TWC

[Josephine96]

Would that be the 1st warning of the day..? I haven't heard very many warnings...

[rainydaze]

First I heard of. Here's text from NWS:

TORNADO WARNING
VAC710-182240-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
612 PM EDT THU SEP 18 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
CITY OF NORFOLK IN SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 640 PM EDT

* AT 612 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING
A TORNADO OVER NORVIEW...OR ABOUT OVER DOWNTOWN NORFOLK...MOVING
NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
NORFOLK INTERNATIONAL AIR AROUND 620 PM EDT...

TAKE COVER IN A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
VEHICLES AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR STURDIER SHELTER.

LAT...LON 3688 7620 3686 7617 3682 7621 3683 7622
3681 7626 3688 7635 3690 7633 3695 7634
3698 7630 3695 7619 3691 7616
$$

SCHUMANN

[Josephine96]

Dowtown Norfolk huh...? Things must be pretty interesting there right about now..

[rainydaze]

I agree the warning is pretty ominous. Downtown and the airport. Does a warning mean it definetly touched down, or can it be they just see it in the clouds and it may not actually touch down? Just wonderin'. I hope it's the latter.

[rainydaze]

A few tornado warnings now. In Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.....Yikes...hope all is ok

[themusk]

Does a warning mean it definetly touched down, or can it be they just see it in the clouds and it may not actually touch down? Just wonderin'. I hope it's the latter.

I'll defer to others who might know for sure that this is official NWS policy. But, in my experience, if they call it a "tornado", they mean "on the ground". If they don't have confirmation that it's on the ground, they'll call it a "possible tornado" or a "funnel cloud".

[Josephine96]

Tornado Warning- A tornado warning is issued whenever a tornado has been sited or has been detected on NWS Doppler radar..

At least that's what I have been told..

[North Georgia]

I think if they see a hook echo or anything on radar which has a tornado signature they will issue a warning even if no actual sighting has been made.

[Anonymous]

I'm not familar with Norfolk or its streets but maybe someone familiar with the city can tell us where this is. It is somewhere downtown!

0605 PM DOWNTOWN NORFOLK VA TORNADO
09/18/03 CITY OF NORFOLK
SEEN ON GROUND AT BAYVIEW AND GRAMBY STREET

Info was found here:
http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/va/public.html

[Josephine96]

Wow Hurri.. there you go.. That's confirmation of it.. I wonder what size it was.. Probably an F 0 or F 1...

[themusk]

I think if they see a hook echo or anything on radar which has a tornado signature they will issue a warning even if no actual sighting has been made.

Yes they will. But in my experience, when they describe such an alert, they'll say "possible tornado spotted on Doppler" rather than "tornado", no qualifications.

Again, I make no claims that this is definite policy. My only "qualification" regarding tornados, if you can call it that, is that I'm an F-4 survivor.

http://www.lib.oak-lawn.il.us/documents/botorn.html

[Rainband]

Hope everyone is ok. My experience is..When a DR indicates a rotation in the storm..they issue a Doppler Indicated Tornado warning. We have had several here in this area i the last few years. It means the storm is probably going to or at least is capable of producing a Tornado. In these circumstances..I suggest take them seriously because we all know "Hurricanes can and often do produce tornadoes" Stay safe everyone..peace

[ColdFront77]

Worcester county in southeastern Maryland, Northampton county in northeastern North Carolina and the city of Emporia in Virginia were also under Tornado Warnings between 6:12 pm EDT and 6:38 pm EDT.

[Josephine96]

I am also a survivor of an F-4 tornado... and a much weaker F 0... They hit on opposite sides of my community 3 years apart...

The F-4 was in Feb of 1998.. the f 0 was in May of 2001 on the night of my high school graduation...