Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Raleigh, NC

April 12, 1987Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 12, 1987, 7:21 PM EDT for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 49 min. 2 reports 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
Apr 12, 1987, 7:21 PM EDT (23:21 UTC)
Expired
Apr 12, 1987, 8:10 PM EDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Wake 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
Apr 12, 7:30 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Wake, NC
Apr 12, 7:45 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Wake, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 117 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 12:00Z on 1987-04-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1987-04-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 126 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2322 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
107 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 122321
SVRRDU
NCC183-130010-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
721 PM EDT SUN APR 12 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 810 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTH CAROLINA... NORTHERN WAKE
 
AT 715 PM THUNDERSTORM WINDS GUSTING TO 56 MPH OCCURRED AT THE
RALEIGH-DURHAM AIRPORT. THE THUNDERSTORM THAT PRODUCED THESE WINDzS
WILL PASS OVER NORTHERN WAKE COUNTY IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR LARGE HAIL...
DAMAGING WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN.
 
 
 
DMD

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, Apr 12, 5:48 PM EDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
 547PM EDT SUN APR 12 1987

 AT 540 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A HEAVY
THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHWEST ROCKINGHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA.

THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY
HEAVY DOWNPOURS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND POSSIBLE HAIL.

MOVEMENT OF THIS STORM IS TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

                            4

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 12, 6:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHOrange48 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.