Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

July 2, 1986Dare County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 1986, 6:05 PM EDT for Dare County, North Carolina. It was in force for 55 min. 1 report 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 2, 1986, 6:05 PM EDT (22:05 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1986, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Dare 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 2, 6:09 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Dare, 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

Cape Hatteras, NC (KHAT), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 63 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: 1883 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 702 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHAT 022205
TORHAT
NCC055-022300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HATTERAS NC
605 PM EDT WED JUL 2 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO AND SPECIAL 
MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE 
FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

NORTH CAROLINA...NORTHERN DARE
...THIS WARNING ALSO INCLUDES THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS FOR THE
COUNTY JUST MENTIONED

AT 605 PM EDT A TORNADO WAS REPOTED IN THE TOWN OF NAGS HEAD.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...IF YOU ARE NEAR ITS PATH GET OUT OF
YOUR CAR OR MOBILE HOME AND FIND SHELTER IN A SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURE
CLOSE TO YOU.  GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
A BASEMENT IS BEST.  COVER YOUR HEAD.  REPORT ANY SEVERE WEATHER
TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE.

MARINERS IN THE VICINITY OF THIS STORM SHOULD SEEK SAFE
HARBOR. IF A WATERSPOUT IS SIGHTED...MOVE AWAY FROM IT AT A RIGHT
ANGLE BASED ON ITS MOVEMENT.

WATERSPOUTS CAN MOVE QUICKLY ONSHORE AND CAUSE CONSIDERABLE
DAMAGE.

 THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING EAST AT NEARLY 40 MILES AN HOUR.

JONES

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 5:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Dare	57 min
Jul 2, 6:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Dare, Hyde	56 min
Jul 2, 7:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Dare, Hyde	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1986 Every tornado warning in 1986 Tornadoes 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.