Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 5, 1989Alexander County, Wilkes County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1989, 8:05 PM EDT for Alexander County, Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 55 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: May 5, 1989, 8:05 PM EDT (00:05 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1989, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Alexander County, NC, 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
May 5, 8:15 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 00:00Z, 0.1 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: 608 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 439 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 552 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 7.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSO 060005
TORGSO
NCC059-159-003-097-193-060100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
805 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      DAVIE...ROWAN...ALEXANDER...IREDELL...WILKES

AT 800 PM EDT RADAR SHOWED POSSIBLE TORNADOS NEAR TAYLORSVILLE...
STATESVILLE AND MOORESVILLE NORTH CAROLINA. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE
NORTHEAST AT AROUND 50 MILES AN HOUR.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN
A BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...FIND SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS..PILLOWS..
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON MOBILE
HOMES FOR STRONG STRUCTURES.

 THIS WARNING SUPERCEDES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED FOR
 ROWAN AND IREDELL COUNTIES UNTIL 845 PM.

 GR

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, May 5, 7:21 PM EDT, 44 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
715 PM   EDT  FRI MAY 5 1989

...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR
THE COUNTIES OF GILES MONTGOMERY FLOYD CARROLL AND ALL
COUNTIES WEST OF THESE COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA...

AT 710 PM RADAR AND IFLOWS GAUGES SHOWS SOME HEAVY RAIN IN PORTIONS
OF SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA. RADAR SHOWS SOME HEAVY
SHOWERS FROM A LINE FROM CARROLL COUNTY NORTHEAST THROUGH ROANOKE
COUNTY...ALSO FROM NORTHERN HENRY COUNTY NORTHEAST THROUGH BEDFORD
COUNTY. IN SOME OF THESE AREAS IFLOWS SHOW RAINFALL FROM 1/2 INCH TO
NEARLY AN INCH OF RAIN FALLING WITHIN AN HOUR. THIS COULD CAUSE SOME
FLOODING ON SOME SMALL STREAMS AND LOW wAREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE. ALSO
SOME URBAN FOODING COULD OCCUR.

PERSONS LIVING IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ALERT IN CASE FLOODING BEGINS.

CE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 8:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Davie, Iredell, Rowan	55 min
May 5, 8:16 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Yadkin	29 min
May 5, 8:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Davidson, Forsyth	26 min
May 5, 8:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Forsyth, Stokes	30 min
May 5, 8:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Davidson, Guilford, Randolph	33 min
May 5, 8:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Rockingham	33 min
May 5, 9:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Alamance, Guilford, Randolph	53 min
May 5, 9:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Caswell, Rockingham	53 min
May 6, 1:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Randolph	45 min
May 6, 1:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Guilford	36 min
May 6, 1:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Rowan	45 min
May 6, 1:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Rockingham	43 min
May 6, 2:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alamance, Caswell	26 min
May 6, 2:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alamance, Caswell	32 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.