Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Blacksburg, VA

April 27, 1989Forsyth County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Apr 27, 1989, 5:07 PM EDT for Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was in force for 68 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 27, 1989, 5:07 PM EDT (21:07 UTC)
Expired
Apr 27, 1989, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
68 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Forsyth 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, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 32 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1989-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 207 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1989-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 138 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, 2 hours 1 minute 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 26, 10:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKForsyth, Guilford69 min
Apr 27, 4:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKDavie55 min
Apr 27, 4:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKForsyth67 min
Apr 27, 4:50 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKSurry55 min
Apr 27, 5:43 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKForsyth62 min
Apr 27, 5:52 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKCaswell68 min
Apr 27, 7:07 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKForsyth68 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.