Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Blacksburg, VA

August 28, 1988Alexander County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Aug 28, 1988, 4:22 PM EDT for Alexander County, North Carolina. It was in force for 68 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 28, 1988, 4:22 PM EDT (20:22 UTC)
Expired
Aug 28, 1988, 5:30 PM EDT
In force
68 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Alexander 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 116 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 1988-08-28Temperature 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 1988-08-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 67 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 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 282022
TORGSO
NCC003-282130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
422 PM EDT SUN AUG 28 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      ALEXANDER

AT 415 PM...THREE FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE REPORTED  BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICIALS MOVING INTO ALEXANDER COUNTY JUST SOUTH OF LOVE VALLEY.
MOVEMENT WAS GENERALLY TO THE WEST AT AN UNKNOWN SPEED.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE..FIND SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  DO NOT TRY TO USE YOUR CAR TO OUTRUN THE TORNADO.
CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  AS A LAST RESORT
TAKE SHELTER IN A CULVERT..DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD
WITH YOUR HANDS.

 GR

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 28, 4:03 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKIredell57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.