Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

June 3, 1987Polk County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 3, 1987, 7:01 PM EDT for Polk County, North Carolina. It was in force for 59 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 3, 1987, 7:01 PM EDT (23:01 UTC)
Expired
Jun 3, 1987, 8:00 PM EDT
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Polk County, NC

The radar

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

The nearest sounding before it

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 180 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1987-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1442 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1987-06-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 23 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1442 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1235 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
2 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 KAVL 032301
SVRAVL
NCC149-040000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
701 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTH CAROLINA... POLK
 
AT 655 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF TRYON IN POLK COUNTY.

THIS STORM WAS MOVIN$G EAST TOWARD TRYON AT AROUND 15 MPH.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE IN ITS
PATH.
 
GRC

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, Jun 3, 1:26 PM EDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREER SC
125 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1987

...THUNDERSTORMS FORM OVER THE SOUTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS...

AT 1.20 THIS AFTERNOON A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WERE NOTED BY WEATHER
RADAR SCATTERED ALONG THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH CAROLINA...FROM JUST
NORTH OF WALHALLA...TO ROCKY BOTTOM...TO CAESARS HEAD...WITH LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN.

THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE OVER SOUTH CAROLINA...AND THE
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS LIeKELY TO GRADUALLY INCREASE DURING THE
AFTERNOON HOURS.

SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...INTENSE LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL...AS THEY MOVE
EAST ACROSS THE UPSTATE COUNTIES.
MUSGROVE
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 2:00 PM EDT, 5 hours 1 minute before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREER SC
201 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1987

...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS...

AT 1.55 THIS AFTERNOON A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WERE NOTED BY WEATHER
RADAR ALONG THE SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS...OVER LAKE KEOWEE AND
NEAR TIGERVILLE. THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST ABOUT 15 MPH.

THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE OVER NORTHWESTERN SOUTH CAROLINA
AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS LIKELY TO SLOLWY INCREASE DURING THE
AFTERNOON HOURS.

SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...INTENSE LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL...AS THEY MOVE
EAST ACROSS THE UPSTATE COUNTIES.
MUSGROVE
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 2:42 PM EDT, 4 hours 19 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
240 PM EDT WED  JUN 3  1987

AT 235PM A HEAVY THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE RADAR JUST EAST OF HENDERSONVILLE.

DURING THE PAST HOUR SEVERAL OTHER THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED
OVER WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

THESE STORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST AT 5 TO 10 MPH.

STAY TUNED TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADIO AND YOUR LOCAL RADIO AND
TELEVISION STATIONS D?URING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS FOR
INFORMATION ON THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.
RED
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 5:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 41 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
520 PM EDT WED JUN 03 1987

...VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN FOOTHILLS OF
NORTH CAROLINA...

 AT 515 PM CHARLOTTE WEATHER RADAR SHOWED VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS
OVER NORTHERN CATAWBA COUNTY NEAR HICKORY. ANOTHER HEAVY THUNDER-
STORM IN RUTHERFORD COUNTY IS MOVING EAST AND IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
INTO CLEVELAND COUNTY BY 6 PM.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH AND
WILL BE ACCOMPANIED WITH HEAVY DOWNPOURS...FREQUENT LIGHTING...GUSTY
WINDS AND POSSIBLE HAIL. ALSO WITH THE HEAVY RAIN LOCAL URBAN
FLOODING IS POSSIBLE.

PEOPLE IN THESE COUNTIES SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR CHANGING WEATHER
CONDITIONS AND LISTEN TO YOUR LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR
LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

JPW
Local storm report, Jun 3, 6:08 PM EDT, 53 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA
605 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1987

THE BURKE COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT REPORTED THAT A VERY LARGE
TREE HAD BEEN UPROOTED BY HIGH WINDS AT APPROXIMATELY 445 PM NEAR
MORAGANTON. THIS TREE WAS BLOWN ONTO THE EASTBOUND LANES OF INTERSTATE
40 AND TOTALLY BLOCKED EASTBOUND TRAFFIC. AS OF 530 PM TRAFFIC WAS
STILL IMPEDED BY THIS TREE.
GRC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 3, 4:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPBurke56 min
Jun 3, 6:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPGaston56 min
Jun 3, 7:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPMecklenburg57 min
Jun 3, 7:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPHenderson, Polk59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

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.