Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wilmington, NC

September 14, 1987Carteret County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 14, 1987, 3:02 PM EDT for Carteret County, North Carolina. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 14, 1987, 3:02 PM EDT (19:02 UTC)
Expired
Sep 14, 1987, 4:00 PM EDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Carteret 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, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 104 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 1987-09-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2152 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 1987-09-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -40 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
2152 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
595 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.1
Supercell composite
-0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KILM 141902
TORILM
NCC031-142000-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
302 PM EDT MON SEP 14 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTH CAROLINA... CARTERET
 
...AND ADJACENT WATERS.
 
AT 245 PM EDT A WATERSPOUTS WERE REPORTED IN CARTERET COUNTY AT
NEWPORT RIVER AND SHELL POINT.  THEY WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MILES
AN HOUR.
 
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.
 
 
SMALL BOAT OPERATORS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO SAFE HARBOR IF
CONDITIONS BECOME THREATENING.
 
ALL MARINE INTERESTS IN THE PATH OF THIS WEATHER SHOULD TAKE EVASIVE
ACTION AND PREPARE FOR ROUGH SEA CONDITIONS AND HIGH WINDS.
 
KETTERMAN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 14, 2:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMOnslow, Pender59 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes 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.