Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989
Tornado Warning 10, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Mar 31, 1989, 5:38 PM EST for Pitt County, North Carolina. It was in force for 37 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 31, 1989, 5:38 PM EST (22:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 31, 1989, 6:15 PM EST
- In force
- 37 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Pitt 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
Cape Hatteras, NC (KHAT), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 174 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1005 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 18 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 38 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KRDU 312240
TORRDU
NCC147-312315-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
538 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
...NORTHEASTERN PITT
A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND IN NORTHEASTERN PITT COUNTY
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
PEOPLE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE
ACTION TO PROTECT THEIR LIVES. GO TO A BASEMENT...THE CENTER OF
BUILDINGS...COVER YOUR HEAD. DO NOT GO NEAR DOORS OR WINDOWS. GET
OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. GET INTO A STURDY BUILDING OR A
DITCH.What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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 31, 2:54 PM EST, 2 hours 44 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 250 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA... AT 245 PM...AN AMATEUR RADIO OPERATOR OBSERVED MARBLE SIZE HAIL ON INTERSTATE 95 NEAR EXIT 145 IN NASH COUNTY...BATTLEBORO AREA. AT 245 PM...A REPORT OF PEA SIZED HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH IN CARRBORO...SOUTHEAST ORANGE COUNTY...CAME FROM A METEOROLOGIST AT WTVD-TV. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. RFG
Special weather statement, Mar 31, 3:10 PM EST, 2 hours 28 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 310 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA... AT 305 PM...A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM GRANVILLE COUNTY THROUGH DURHAM AND CHATHAM COUNTIES OF THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT. PEA SIZED HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS LINE OF STORMS AND WIND GUSTS TO 47 MPH HAVE BEEN OBSERVED AS THE STORMS APPROACHED RALEIGH- DURHAM AIRPORT AT 305 PM. THIS LINE OF STORMS IN MOVING TOWARD THE EAST-NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 25 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL BE AFFECTING WAKE AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES DURING THE NEXT HOUR. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. RFG
Special weather statement, Mar 31, 3:15 PM EST, 2 hours 23 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 315 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA... AT 310 PM...A LINE OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM HERTFORD COUNTY THROUGH WESTERN BERTIE AND EDGECOMBE COUNTIES TO EASTERN WILSON COUNTY. MARBLE SIZED HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED EARLIER WITH THIS LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS AS THEY CROSSED THE NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN. THIS LINE OF STORMS IN MOVING TOWARD THE EAST-NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 25 MILES AN HOUR. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. RFG
Special weather statement, Mar 31, 3:54 PM EST, 1 hour 44 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 350 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT...THE NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN...AND PARTS OF THE CENTRAL COASTAL PLAIN...SANDHILLS AND NORTHERN AND CENTRAL COASTAL AREA... AT 350 PM...THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS APPEARED OVER THE NORTHEAST PART OF THE STATE IN GATES AND BERTIE COUNTY. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE WIDELY SCATTERED OVER THE COASTAL PLAIN AND NORTHEAST PIEDMONT MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 TO 50 MPH. THE GREATEST THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS NOW IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE. COOLER AND DRIER AIR IS MOVING INTO THE PIEDMONT AND THIS SHOULD RESULT IN DIMIN'ISHING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY FROM THE WEST DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. RFG
Special weather statement, Mar 31, 4:36 PM EST, 1 hour 2 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC 430 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT COUNTIES OF ALAMANCE AND CASWELL HAVE BEEN DROPPED FROM THE TORNADO WATCH ISSUED EXARLIER THIS AFTER- NOON... ALL OFTHE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS MOVED WELL TO THE EAST OF THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT AND IS NO LONGER OF THREAT TO THE AREA. THIS WILL BE THE FINAL STATEMENT. SAS
Special weather statement, Mar 31, 4:50 PM EST, 48 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 450 PM EST FRI MAR 31 1989 ...A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR THE NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN...AND PARTS OF THE CENTRAL COASTAL PLAIN AND NORTHERN AND CENTRAL COASTAL AREA. THE WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHEAST PIEDMONT AND SANDHILLS. AT 450 PM...HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER NORTHERN WAYNE AND SOUTHERN WILSON COUNTIES. OTHER THUNDERSTORS WERE WIDELY iSCATTERED OVER THE COASTAL PLAIN FROM SAMPSON COUNTY TO THE VIRGINIA BORDER. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. JBP
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.