Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 5, 1989Forsyth County, Stokes County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1989, 8:45 PM EDT for Forsyth County, Stokes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 30 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, 8:45 PM EDT (00:45 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1989, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Forsyth County, NC, Stokes 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, 9:05 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Stokes, 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, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 37 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 060046 COR
TORGSO
NCC067-169-060115-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      FORSYTH...STOKES

AT 842 PM  A TORNADO WAS REPORTED IN THE WEST SIDE OF WINSTON SALEM
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.(

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

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, 1 hour 24 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

Special weather statement, May 5, 8:20 PM EDT, 25 minutes before

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

...TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH
CENTRAL AND EASTERN VIRGINIA. IN THE ROANOKE WARNING AREA THE WATCH
INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF PATRICK HENRY AND FRANKLIN/AND THE
INDEPENDENT CITY OF MARTINSVILLE...
...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 810 PM RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY DOWNPOURS
STRETCHING FROM PATRICK COUNTY NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH FRANKLIN EASTERN
ROANOKE AND BEDFORD COUNTIES...AND INTO AMHERST COUNTY. THESE
THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 20 MPH. PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF
THESE STORMS CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND
STRONG GUSTY WINDS. THE HEAVY RAIN COULD CAUSE SOME SMALL STREAM AND
URBAN FOODING.
A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA IS
PRODUCING TORNADOES. THIS THUNDERSTORM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO
SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA WITHIN AN HOUR. PERSONS IN THE COUNTIES
IN THE TORNADO WATCH AREA SHOULD STAY ALERT AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE
COVER IF A WARNING IS ISSUED OR THREATENING APPRAOCHES.

JJ

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, 8:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Alexander, Wilkes	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, 8:57 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.