Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Blacksburg, VA

April 27, 1989Surry County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Apr 27, 1989, 4:50 PM EDT for Surry County, North Carolina. It was in force for 55 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 27, 1989, 4:50 PM EDT (20:50 UTC)
Expired: Apr 27, 1989, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Surry 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 80 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: 207 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 933 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 237 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSO 272052
TORGSO
NCC171-272145-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
450 PM EDT THU APR 27 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENSBORO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
          ...SURRY
REPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD ALONG THE VIRGINIA...NORTH CAROLINA BORDER
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOI1D WINDOWS.

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, Apr 27, 3:06 PM EDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
300 PM EDT THU APR 27 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 245 PM TO 900 PM EDT.

THE COUNTIES IN THE WATCH AREA...BLAND...BOTETOURT...CARROLL...CRAIG...
FLOYD...FRANKLIN...GILES...GRAYSON...HENRY...MONTGOMERY...PULASKI...
ROANOKE...WYTHE.

ALSO INCLUDED IN THE WATCH AREA ARE THE INDEPENDENT CITIES OF
GALAX...MARTINSVILLE...RADFORD...ROANOKE...SALEM.

AT 300 PM EDT...WEATHER RADAR DETECTS A NEARLY SOLID LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EXTREME WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA NEAR HOT SPRINGS
SOUTHWEST ACROSS INTO SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AT LEWISBURG WEST TO
BECKLEY. THESE STORMS ARE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL
BE APPROACHING THE VIRGINIA COUNTIES OF CRAIG...GILES...AND BLAND
BY 330 PM.

PERSONS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER
CONDITIONS. LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
COULD BE PRODUCED BY THESE STORMS AS THEY MOVE INTO VIRGINIA.

PLEASE MONITOR YOUR LOCAL TV...RADIO..OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR
POSSIBLE WARNINGS AND FURTHER UPDATES.
'
END/CACCIAPAGLIA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 10:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Forsyth, Guilford	69 min
Apr 27, 4:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Davie	55 min
Apr 27, 4:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Forsyth	67 min
Apr 27, 5:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Forsyth	68 min
Apr 27, 5:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Forsyth	62 min
Apr 27, 5:52 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Caswell	68 min
Apr 27, 7:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Forsyth	68 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.