Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Raleigh, NC

March 15, 1989Warren County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 15, 1989, 6:11 PM EST for Warren County, North Carolina. It was in force for 49 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: Mar 15, 1989, 6:11 PM EST (23:11 UTC)
Expired: Mar 15, 1989, 7:00 PM EST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Warren 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 15, 6:33 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Warren, 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, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 165 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 174 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 152313
SVRRDU
NCC185-160000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
611 PM EST WED MAR 15 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
          ...WARREN
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING
INTO WESTERN WARREN COUNTY. THIS THUNDERSTORM HAS A RECENT HISTORY OF
PRODUCING SOME WIND DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS AND HAIL FORM PEA TO GOLFBALL
SIZE.
 
THE STORM IS MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT FOR LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING WINDS. FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN CAN OCCUR
WITH ANY THUNDERSTORM.

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, Mar 15, 2:43 PM EST, 3 hours 28 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
245 PM EST WED MAR 15 1989

...NORTH CAROLINA SKYWARN OUTLOOK..THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE..
THUNDERSTORMS..WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ACROSS MOST OF NORTH
CAROLINA DURING THE REMAINDER OF THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA ALONG
AND AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT. THIS FRONT AND THE ASSOCIATED THUNDERSTORMS
WILL MOVE TO THE EAST ACROSS THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS EARLY TONIGHT
AND ON EAST TO THE COASTAL AREA BY THURSDAY MORNING.

LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS
OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

JFB

Local storm report, Mar 15, 5:46 PM EST, 25 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  GREENSBORO NC
545 PM EST WED MAR 15 1989

ATTN SELS...

400 PM EST..2100Z..HAIL UP TO 3/4 INCH SIZE COVERING GROUND IN SOUTHEAST
     PART WILKES OF COUNTY.
412 PM EST..2112Z..HAIL UP TO 3/4 INCH SIZE COVERING GROUND YADKINVILLE
     IN CENTRAL YADKIN COUNTY.
415 PM EST..2115Z..HAIL UP TO QUARTER SIZE COVERING GROUND CENTRAL
     ROCKINGHAM COUNTY AROUND WENTWORTH AREA.
435 PM EST..2135Z..HAIL UP TO LARGER THAN A DIME COVERING GROUND IN
     STATESVILLE IN IREDELL COUNTY.
445 PM EST..2145Z..3/4 INCH HAIL NORTHEAST PART OF FORSYTH COUNTY WITH
     SMALLER ELSEWHERE..COVERING GROUND IN MANY LOCATIONS.
450 PM EST..2150Z..3/4 INCH HAIL IN BURLINGTON AND GRAHAM AREAS OF
     ALAMANCE COUNTY.

ALSO NUMEROUS REPORTS OF 1/4-1/2 INCH HAIL THAT WAS 2 TO 3 INCHES DEEP
ON THE GROUND OVER PARTS OF THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT INCLUDING GUILFORD
COUNTY NORTH OF THE TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (GSO).

RBN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 4:42 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	48 min
Mar 15, 5:41 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville	49 min
Mar 15, 5:44 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Vance	46 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1989 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

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.