Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 12, 1987Guilford County, Rockingham County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 12, 1987, 7:41 PM EDT for Guilford County, Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 59 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 12, 1987, 7:41 PM EDT (23:41 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1987, 8:40 PM EDT
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Guilford County, NC, Rockingham 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 12, 7:50 PM EDTHail 0.75Rockingham, 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, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 21 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 1987-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 24 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 12:00Z on 1987-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 83 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
24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-223 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1072 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
114 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 KGSO 122341
SVRGSO
NCC081-157-130040-

BULLETIN-IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
741 PM EDT TUE MAY 12 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 840 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

NORTH CAROLINA...GUILFORD...ROCKINGHAM

AT 740 PM EDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NORTH OF GREENSBORO
ALONG THE GUILFORD AND ROCKINGHAM COUNTY LINE MOVING SLOWLY EAST.

DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL..VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN
SIGHTED OR INDICATED BY RADAR. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM HAS WINDS STRONGER
THAN 57 MPH OR HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH OR LARGER.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOU...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
REPORT ANY SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

RBNd

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 12, 2:50 PM EDT, 4 hours 51 minutes before
^WBCSPSROA

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
345  PM  EDT  TUE MAY 12 1985

AT345 PM VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED IN
NORTHWESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY.  OTHER THUNDERSTORMS ARE
LOCATED IN PATRICK AND BOTETOURT COUNTIES OF VIRGINA.
NUMEROUS SHOWERS ARE LOCATED THROUGHOUT WEST CENTRAL
AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINA AND THESE COULD DEVELOP INTO
THUNDERSTORMS.
THESE STORMS COULD XAUSE HEAVY DOWNPOURS  DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS AS THEY MOVE TO THE EAST
ABOUT 20 MPH.

HS

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.