Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989
Tornado Warning 22, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 16, 1989, 4:00 PM EDT for Lenoir County, North Carolina. It was in force for 60 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 16, 1989, 4:00 PM EDT (20:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 16, 1989, 5:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lenoir 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 194 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
- 2208 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 616 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 78 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 96 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KRDU 162003
TORRDU
NCC107-162100-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
400 PM EDT SAT SEP 16 1989
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
...LENOIR
AT 350 PM FIRE DEPT IN PINK HILL IN LENIOR COUTY REPORTED A TORNADO ON
THE GROUND MOVING TOWARDS KINSTON.
TORNADO$ES IN THE SOUTH ARE HARD TO SEE BECAUSE OF RAIN...LOW
CLOUDS...AND TREES. TAKE COVER NOW...DO NOT TRY TO WAIT ON THE
STORM AND DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN IT.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, Sep 16, 1:35 PM EDT, 2 hours 25 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 135 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1989 HEAVY RAINS OVER THE COASTAL PLAIN... AT 130 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED THAT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS... SOME WITH HEAVY RAIN...HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE COASTAL PLAIN. THE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NEAR TARBORO IN EDGECOMBE COUNTY...THROUGH THE WILSON AREA AND EXTENDING THROUGH WAYNE COUNTY TO THE SOUTHWEST OF GOLDSBORO. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AROUND 30 MILES HOUR. THIS MEANS THAT SEVERAL OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY TRAVEL ALONG THE SAME PATH...POSSIBLY RESULTING HEAVY RAINFALL TOTALS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR WEAtTHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. MES
Special weather statement, Sep 16, 2:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 255 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1989 ...STRONG STORMS OVER CENTRAL AND EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA... AT 245 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED THAT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS... SOME WITH HEAVY RAIN...WERE CONTINUING OVER THE COASTAL PLAINS... AND WERE DEVELOPING ACROSS THE PIEDMONT AND SANDHILLS. ONE LINE OF STORMS WAS INDICATED FROM AHOSKIE TO KENANSVILLE WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS OVER PITT AND GREENE COUNTIES. OTHER STORMS WERE SCATTERED OVER THE PIEDMONT AND SANDHILLS WITH THE HEAVIEST STORMS OVER ORANGE...WAKE...CHATHAM AND MOORE COUNTIES. SHOWERS AND STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. DUE THE ORIENTATION AND MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS...SOME OF THEM MAY TRAVEL OVER THE SAME AREAS...POSSIBLY RESULTING IN HEAVY RAINFALL TOTALS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY RISING WATER IF YOU ARE IN AN AREA WHERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO CONCERT-GOERS IN WEST RALEIGH THIS EVENING... A THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHWESTERN WAKE COUNTY WILL LIKELY BE MOVING THROUGH WEST RALEIGH BETWEEN 3 AND 4 PM. OTHER STORMS TO THE SOUTHWEST WILL POSSIBLY AFFECT THIS AREA BETWEEN 4 AND 8 PM. LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO...TV...OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. JBM
The office that day
Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 9:01 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RAH | Cumberland | 3 hr |
| Sep 16, 3:38 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Franklin, Wake | 67 min |
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.