Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Raleigh, NC

February 21, 1989Cumberland County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Feb 21, 1989, 11:40 AM EST for Cumberland County, North Carolina. It was in force for 65 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 21, 1989, 11:40 AM EST (16:40 UTC)
Expired: Feb 21, 1989, 12:45 PM EST
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Cumberland 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, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 150 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: 480 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 127 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 211642
TORRDU
NCC051-211745-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1140 AM EST TUE FEB 21 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH CAROLINA
          ...CUMBERLAND
 
AT 1140 AM EST...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED TO HAVE TOUCHED DOWN NEAR CAPE
FEAR VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER IN FAYETTEVILLE. RADAR INDICATED THE STORM
WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 50 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, Feb 21, 5:53 AM EST, 5 hours 47 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
600 AM EST TUE FEB 21 1989

... DENSE FOG OVER MUCH OF NORTHEAST PIEDMONT..NORTHERN
COASTAL PLAIN..AND PORTIONS OF THE SANDHILLS.

EARLY THIS MORNING DENSE FOG AGAIN COVERED THE NORTHEAST
PIEDMONT..NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN..AND PORTIONS OF THE
SANDHILLS.

VISIBILITY AT THE RALEIGH-DURHAM AIRPORT WAS LESS THAN 1/16
OF A MILE. THE VISIBILITIES WILL GRADUALLY IMPROVE DURING THE
MORNING HOURS BUT WILL BE RESTRICTED MOST OF THE DAY DUE TO
RAIN.

DRIVE CAREFULLY AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME FOR TRAVEL.

KK

Special weather statement, Feb 21, 10:29 AM EST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
1022 AM EST TUE FEB 21 1989

...VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN RANDOLPH COUNTY OF THE NORTHWEST
   PIEDMONT...

AT 1020 AM...RADAR SHOWS A SMALL LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY
RAIN EXTENDED FROM SOUTH OF RAMSEUR AND EAST OF SEAGROVE IN EASTERN
RANDOLPH COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

THESE STORMS COULD CONTAIN SOME HAIL...VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND STRONG
GUSTY	 WINDS. POSSIBLE FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS AND ROADS ARE
POSSIBLE. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD MOVE INTO CHATHAM COUNTY IN THE NEXT
ONE HALF HOUR.

PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS SHOULD TAKE COVER IF THREATENING
WEATHER APPROACHES.

GR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 21, 10:16 AM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Moore	59 min
Feb 21, 10:28 AM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Chatham, Lee	62 min
Feb 21, 10:43 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	62 min
Feb 21, 11:00 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham	60 min
Feb 21, 11:07 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	68 min
Feb 21, 11:14 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville	61 min
Feb 21, 11:30 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	60 min
Feb 21, 11:37 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin, Vance	68 min
Feb 21, 11:48 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Warren	57 min
Feb 21, 11:51 AM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Johnston	69 min
Feb 21, 11:57 AM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Nash, Wilson	63 min
Feb 21, 12:01 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Wayne	59 min
Feb 21, 12:30 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Edgecombe, Greene, Lenoir, Pitt	60 min
Feb 21, 12:30 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Halifax	60 min
Feb 21, 12:47 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RAH	Northampton	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes 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.