Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Wilmington, NC

May 19, 1987Pender County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1987, 5:15 PM EDT for Pender County, North Carolina. It was in force for 65 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 19, 1987, 5:15 PM EDT (21:15 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 1987, 6:20 PM EDT
In force
65 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Pender 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

Cape Hatteras, NC (KHAT), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 233 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, Cape Hatteras, NC at 12:00Z on 1987-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 223 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, Cape Hatteras, NC at 12:00Z on 1987-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 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
223 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1103 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
31 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 KILM 192117
SVRILM
NCC141-192220-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
515 PM EDT TUE MAY 19 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 620 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTH CAROLINA... PENDER
 
AT 515 PM EDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM SHOWN BY THE WILMINGTON WEATHER
RADAR WAS 10 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF BURGAW IN PENDER COUNTY NORTH
CAROLINA MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

RESIDENTS IN THIS AREA SHOULD TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY.


 
DS

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, May 19, 3:54 PM EDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
355 PM EDT TUE MAY 19 1987

...VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE INTO
SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA...

AT 330 THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON...VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDED IN CLUSTERS AND SHORT LINES FROM THE VIRGINIA
BORDER OF NORTH CAROLINA NORTH OF ROCKY MOUNT THROUGH
THE SANDHILLS AROUND FAYETTEVILLE INTO EASTERN SOUTH
CAROLINA TO THE COAST CHARLESTON TO MYRTLE BEACH.

PERSONS IN COLUMBUS...ROBESON AND SAMPSON COUNTIES IN
SOUTHEAST NORTHCAROLINA SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR STRONG
WINDS...LOCAL TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS WHICH LOWER DRIVING
VISIBILITY AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING WHICH IS MORE LIKELY
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FORMING THUNDERSTORMS.
.

THE STORMS CONTINUED TO DRIFT SLOWLY EAST AND SPREAD
OUT AND DISSIPATE FARTHER INLAND FROM THE COAST.  THE
STORMS ON THE SOUTH CAROLINA COAST ALSO DISSIPATED AS
THEY APPROACHED THE COAST FROM THE WEST SINCE 230w
THIS AFTERNOON.

AEP
Special weather statement, May 19, 4:45 PM EDT, 30 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
445 PM EDT TUE MAY 19 1987

VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED WITH LITTLE CHANGE OVER EASTERN
NORTH CAROLINA SINCE 330 THIS AFTERNOON.

AT 425 PM VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED WITHIN AN AREA OF
RAIN THAT EXTENDED FROM THE VIRGINIA BORDER NORTH OF ROCKY MOUNT
INTO SOUTH CAROLINA.  THE AREA COVERED THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE
NORTHEAST PIEDMONT...MOST OF THE COASTAL PLAINS AND THE SANDHILLS AS
WELL AS THE WESTERN PORTION OF BRUNSWICK COUNTY IN THE SOUTHERN
COASTAL AREA OF NORTH CAROLINA.  IN SOUTH CAROLINA THE AREA COVERED
MUCH OF THE MIDLANDS AND THE COASTAL AREA.

THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER CENTRAL WILSON COUNTY...NEAR
WARSAW IN DUPLIN COUNTY AND NORTHWEST OF ELIZABETHTOWN IN BLADEN
COUNTY.

STRONG GUSTY WINDS..AND VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS MAY ACCOMPANY SOME OF
THE HEAVIER THUNDERSTORMS.

THE RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 17 MILES AN HOUR.

JF

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.