Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 77, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 11, 1986Durham County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 11, 1986, 3:26 PM EDT for Durham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 34 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: Aug 11, 1986, 3:26 PM EDT (19:26 UTC)
Expired: Aug 11, 1986, 4:00 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Durham 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
Aug 11, 3:38 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Durham, 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, 7.4 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: 688 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -61 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 762 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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

Local storm report, Aug 11, 10:33 AM EDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  GREENSBORO NC
1035 AN EDT MON AUG 11 1986

ATTN SELS...

...INFORMATION IS DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED 8/10/1986...

605 PM EDT 1605 CST..IN HOLLY SPRINGS..SURRY COUNTY NC..ROOF BLOWN OFF
     CINDER BLOCK BLDG THAT HAD BEEN CONVERTED TO A CHURCH. ROOF LANDED
     IN PARKING AREA. CAUSED $15,000 DAMAGE..MOSTLY TO 3 CARS THAT WERE
     HIT BY THE ROOF DEBRIS. FEW TREES ALSO UPROOTED. EMERGENCY MNGMT
     INSPECTED THE AREA AND SAID CAUSED BY STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

RBN

Special weather statement, Aug 11, 1:49 PM EDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
 147 PM EDT MON AUG 11 1986

...THUNDERSTORMS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTH CAROLINA...

AT 140 PM EDT.. WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPING OVER THE PIEDMONT..FOOTHILLS AND MOUNTAINS OF NORTH
CAROLINA.

IN THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT.. AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED
RAPIDLY NEAR THE DURHAM-GRANVILLE COUNTY LINE AND IS LIKELY TO
AFFECT SOUTHERN GRANVILLE COUNTY BY 230 PM.  ANOTHER STRONG
THUNDERSTORM HAS BEEN DETECTED JUST SOUTHWEST OF KERR LAKE NORTH
OF HENDERSON.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN MOVING NORTHEAST AT
25 MILES AN HOUR.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS MAY EXPERIENCE INTENSE LIGHTNING
..SUDDEN GUSTY WIND.. AND POSSIBLY SOME HAIL. ALSO HEAVY RAIN MAY
CAUSE HAZARDOUS DRIVING BECAUSE OF REDUCED VISIBILITY AND PONDING OF
 WATER ON HIGHWAYS.

LISTN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OF
POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

RFG

Special weather statement, Aug 11, 3:12 PM EDT, 14 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
310 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 1986

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE NORTHWEST
   PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA UNTIL 900 PM...

AT 305 PM RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORMS FROM PILOT
MOUNTAIN IN SURRY COUNTY THROUGH TAYLORSVILLE IN ALEXANDER COUNTY.
THE HEAVIEST STORM IN THIS LINE WAS OVER SOUTHERN ALEXANDER COUNTY..
SOUTH OF TAYLORSVILLE. THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

AS THESE STORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING HAIL..DAMAGING WINDS..FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND
VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE LIKELY TO DEVELOP.

PEOPLE IN THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA SHOULD BE ON THE
LOOKOUT FOR DANGEROUS WEATHER CONDITIONS AND SHOULD TAKE SHELTER BEFORE
THEY APPROACH.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR ALAMANCE COUNTY
UNTIL 400 PM.

RBN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 11, 2:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville, Vance	69 min
Aug 11, 2:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	64 min
Aug 11, 2:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	43 min
Aug 11, 3:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	30 min
Aug 11, 4:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Halifax	33 min
Aug 11, 4:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	40 min
Aug 11, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Halifax	67 min
Aug 11, 5:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	56 min
Aug 11, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	48 min
Aug 11, 7:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Greene, Pitt	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1986 Every 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.