Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Wilmington, NC

May 10, 1988Duplin County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 10, 1988, 7:44 PM EDT for Duplin County, North Carolina. It was in force for 56 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 10, 1988, 7:44 PM EDT (23:44 UTC)
Expired
May 10, 1988, 8:40 PM EDT
In force
56 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Duplin 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 10, 8:00 PM EDTHail 1.25Duplin, 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 219 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 1988-05-10Temperature 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 1988-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -76 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
1293 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 10, 1:50 PM EDT, 5 hours 54 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
 145 PM EDT TUE MAY 19 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE EXTREME SOUTH COAST OF
NORTH CAROLINA...

AT 130 PM THIS AFTERNOON...WILMINGTON RADAR DETECTED DEVELOPING
THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN ALONG THE EXTREME SOUTH COAST
AND COASTAL WATERS OF NORTH CAROLINA.  THESE STORMS WERE THE
NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF A BAND OF STRONG STORMS MOVING OUT OF
NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA.  THE STRONGEST STORMS EXTENDED FROM
THE IMMEDIATE COASTAL WATERS NEAR MYRTLE BEACH...NORTH TO
SHALLOTE NORTH CAROLINA.

MARINERS SHOULD REMAIN CLEAR OF THESE STORMS AS THEY MOVE INTO
THE COASTAL WATERS NEAR SHALLOTE AND FROM THE SOUTH CAROLINA
COAST INTO THE NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL WATERS. SOME OF THESE STORMS HAVE ALREADY PRODUCED 1/4 INCH HAIL AND
HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE VERY STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

OTHERWISE...RADAR INDICATED SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS
ALON|G THE CAROLINA COAST FROM JUST NORTH OF CHARLESTON...
ACROSS GEORGETOWN AND INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA.

MOST STORMS WERE MOVING EAST NEAR 25 MILES AN HOUR.

RC
Special weather statement, May 10, 2:51 PM EDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
 245 PM EDT TUE MAY 19 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH COAST...

SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS WERE DETECTED IN AND AROUND THE GREATER
WILMINGTON AREA AND EXTENDED NORTH TO JUST INLAND FROM THE COAST
...NEAR HOLLYRIDGE.

THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING
...AND SMALL HAIL.

THE STORMS ARE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS ALONG THE SOUTH COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA SHOULD REMAIN
WEATHER ALERT THIS AFTERNOON AS THESE STORMS PASS THROUGH THE
AREA.
MARINERS SHOULD ALSO REMAIN WEATHER ALERT AS A FEW OF THESE
STORMS ARE LIKELY TO MOVE INTO THE COASTAL WATERS.  IF STORMS
ARE SIGHTED...YOU SHOULD NAVIGATE AWAY FROM THE STORMS INTO
BETTER WEATHER CONDITIONS.

OTHER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE DETECTED IN EAST CENTRAL
NORTH CAROLINA...AROUND AND JUST WEST OF NEW BERN.

A BAND OF ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSHOWERS
WERE EXTENDING ALONG THE COASTAL WATERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA...
NORTH ACROSS THE IMMEDIATE COASTAL AREAS OF NORTH CAROLINA
...TO JUST WEST OF PAMLICO SOUND.

RC
Local storm report, May 10, 4:45 PM EDT, 2 hours 59 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 10, 5:00 PM EDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 10, 5:34 PM EDT, 2 hours 10 minutes before
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Local storm report, May 10, 7:19 PM EDT, 25 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 10, 3:07 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMOnslow63 min
May 10, 3:18 PM EDTTornado WarningILMOnslow32 min
May 10, 3:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMJones31 min
May 10, 4:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMCraven47 min
May 10, 4:17 PM EDTTornado WarningILMCraven33 min
May 10, 6:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen, Sampson62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.