Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Blacksburg, VA

June 2, 1989Wilkes County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 2, 1989, 3:58 PM EDT for Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 62 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: Jun 2, 1989, 3:58 PM EDT (19:58 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1989, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Wilkes 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
Jun 2, 4:10 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Wilkes, 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 516 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -83 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1614 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KGSO 022002
SVRGSO
NCC193-022100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
358 PM EDT FRI JUN 2 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      WILKES

AT 350 PN RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN WILKES COUNTY OF
NORTH CAROLINA.  MOVING TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN AN AREA THREATENED BY THE STORM..GO TO A REINFORCED
SHELTER AND PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WINDS..LARGE HAIL..VERY HEAVY
DOWNPOURS AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING.
THIS THUNDERSTORM MAY CAUSE THE FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS..CREEKS..
UNDER%PASSES AND LOW LYING ROADWAYS. AVOID DRIVING ACROSS AREAS WHERE
WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.

DEH

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, Jun 2, 2:57 PM EDT, 1 hour 1 minute before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
255  PM  EDT  FRI JUN 2  1989

...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...

AT 250 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED THAT THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY
HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS...WERE
OVER SOUTHEAST SECTIONS OF WEST VIRGINIA AND MOVING TOWARD THE
VIRGINIA LINE.

BY 310 PM THESE STORMS SHOULD MOVE INTO THE VIRGINIA COUNTIES OF
CRAIG AND BOTETOURT.  PERSONS IN THESE COUNTIES SHOULD BE ALERT
FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE WEATHER AND STAY TUNED TO RADIO AND
TV IN THE EVENT WARNINGS ARE ISSUED.

OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE MOVING INTO BLAND...WYTHE AND
GRAYSON COUNTIES OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR. SOME OF
THESE SAME STORMS GAVE MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN THE VICINITY OF TRICITIES
AND THE AIRPORT THERE REPORTED WIND GUSTS TO 54 MPH. $$HM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 4:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Iredell	53 min
Jun 2, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Guilford, Rockingham	59 min
Jun 2, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Davie, Rowan	46 min
Jun 2, 5:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alamance	50 min
Jun 2, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Caswell	32 min
Jun 2, 6:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Iredell	33 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.