Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 1, 1986Catawba County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 1, 1986, 5:20 PM EDT for Catawba County, North Carolina. It was in force for 55 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jul 1, 1986, 5:20 PM EDT (21:20 UTC)
Expired
Jul 1, 1986, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Catawba County, NC

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 1, 5:30 PM EDTHail 1Catawba, NC
Jul 1, 6:00 PM EDTHail 1Catawba, NC

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 127 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1986-07-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 347 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1986-07-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 45 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
347 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-113 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 012121
SVRCLT
NCC035-012215-

BULLETIN-IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE BY RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
520  PM EDT TUE JUL 1 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

NORTH CAROLINA... CATAWBA

AT 515 PM EDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS
WAS REPORTED JUST EAST OF HICKORY IN CATAWBA COUNTY.  THE STORM IS MOVING
EAST AT ABOUT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR THE POSSIBILITY
OF LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN. REPORT ANY SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.

RFG

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 1, 1:49 PM EDT, 3 hours 31 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
145 PM EDT TUE JUL 01 1986

AT 130 PM CHARLOTTE WEATHER RADAR SHOWED VERY HEAVY THUNDER
STORMS HAD FORMED RAPIDLY OVER NORTHERN CABARRUS AND NORTHERN
GASTON COUNTIES OF NORTH CAROLINA.

SHOWERS HAD FORMED OVER CATAWBA AND CLEVELAND COUNTIES ALSO IN
THE TAR HEEL STATE.

THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST
ABOUT 20 MPH AND MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY HAIL..LIGHTNING..BRIEF
DOWNPOURS..AND LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS.

BY 230 THIS AFTERNOON..A VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM WILL HAVE CROSSED
OVER CONCORD COUNTY IN CABARRUS COUNTY AND OVER GASTONIA IN GASTON
COUNTY.  THE VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM IN GASTON COUNTY MAY MOVE
'ACROSS CHARLOTTE AROUND 3 PM.

CLARK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 1, 2:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPMontgomery80 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1986Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.