Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 2, 1987Johnston County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 2, 1987, 8:51 PM EDT for Johnston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 29 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
May 2, 1987, 8:51 PM EDT (00:51 UTC)
Expired
May 2, 1987, 9:20 PM EDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Johnston 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 2, 9:05 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Johnston, 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 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 152 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 1987-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 731 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 1987-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -20 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
731 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1765 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-6 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 KRDU 030051
SVRRDU
NCC101-030120-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
851 PM EDT SAT MAY 2 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 920 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTH CAROLINA... JOHNSTON
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN
JOHNSTON COUNTY NORTH OF SELMA MOVING EAST AROUND 20 MILES AN HOUKR.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR LARGE HAIL...
DAMAGING WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN.
 
 
 
RA

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 2, 7:07 PM EDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
705 PM EDT SAT MAY 2 1987

WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MOVING EAST THROUGH CENTRAL NORTH
CAROLINA...

AT 7PM THE STRONGEST AND MOST CONCENTRATED AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS
WERE MOVING INTO PORTION OF THE SANDHILLS. THIS WAS PART OF A LINE
OF THUNDERSTORMS THAT EXTENDED FROM WESTERN HOKE COUNTY...ACROSS
WESTERN SCOTLAND COUNTY AND SOUTHWEST INTO SOUTH CAROLINA. THESE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE SANDHILLS THIS EVENING...
ACCOMPANIED BY HEAVY RAIN...SOME GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLY HAIL. PERSONS
IN HOKE...CUMBERLAND...SCOTLAND AND ROBESON COUNTIES SHOULD BE ON THE
ALERT FOR RAPID CHANGING CONDITIONS FOR THE NEXT HOUR OR SO.

IN THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT...AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING EAST
NEAR THE VIRGINIA BORDER IN THE COUNTIES OF PERSON AND EXTREME NORTHERN
GRANVILLE. ALSO A COUPLE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN EASTERN WAKE COUNTY
HAVE PRODUCE SOME SMALL HAIL DURING THE PAST HALF HOUR. MARBLE SIZE
HAIL WAS REPORTED NEAR KNIGHTDALE.

LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS
OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
LBC
Special weather statement, May 2, 8:12 PM EDT, 39 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
810 PM EDT SAT MAY 2 1987

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING MOVING EAST THROUGH CENTRAL NORTH
CAROLINA...

AT 8PM SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM SOUTH-CENTRAL VIRGINIA
THROUGH SECTIONS OF THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA AND
PORTION OF THE SANDHILLS.

FREQUENT LIGHTNING...HEAVY RAIN AND SOME SMALL HAIL HAS OCCURRED FROM
MANY OF THE THUNDERSTORMS. IN THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT...SOME OF THE
STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED THROUGH PORTION OF THE TRIANGLE AREA
AND WAS CURRENTLY MOVING THROUGH EASTERN WAKE COUNTY AND SOUTHERN
FRANKLIN COUNTY. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOVING INTO THE
NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN OF NORTH CAROLINA DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF
HOURS. PEA TO MARBLE SIZE WAS REPORTED BY HAM RADIO SHORTLY AFTER
8PM NEAR WAKE FOREST. A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS ALSO REPORTED WITH THE SAME
STORM NEAR WAKE FOREST.

LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR WEATH.ER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS
OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
LBC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 9:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWayne, Wilson63 min
May 3, 5:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHCumberland60 min
May 3, 6:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHJohnston28 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.