Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 1, 1990Gaston County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 1, 1990, 5:17 PM EDT for Gaston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 43 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 1, 1990, 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired: Apr 1, 1990, 6:00 PM EDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Gaston 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, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCLT 012118
SVRCLT
NCC071-012200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
517 PM EDT SUN APR 1 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLOTTE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN WEST NORTH CAROLINA
          ...GASTON
 
AT 515 EDT WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE
EXTREME NORTHWESTERN PORTION OF GASTON COUNTY OF NORTH CAROLINA. THIS
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAIN IN EFFECT TO THE WEST AND NORTH OF
GASTON COUNTY UNTIL AS LATE AS 6 OCLOCK.
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROhUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD
PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING.  PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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, Apr 1, 3:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 18 minutes before

NCZ 007-009-010-011-012-013-012200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
400 PM EDT SUN APR 1 1990

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS...

SHORTLY BEFORE 4 PM A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS LOCATED
NORTHEAST OF ASHEVILLE ALONG THE MCDOWELL COUNTY-RUTHERFORD COUNTY
LINE. THIS STORM DUMPED FROM PEA TO MARBLE SIZE HAIL AS IT MOVED
OVER FLAT TOP MOUNTAIN AROUND 330 THIS AFTERNOON.

ELSEWHERE...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE WIDELY SCATTERED ACROSS
PARTS OF THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 35 MILES
AN HOUR.

SHOWERS AND POSSIBLY A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA TONIGHT. I URGE YOU TO REMAIN ALERT AND BE
PREPARED TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER INDOORS IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES.
CC

Special weather statement, Apr 1, 5:08 PM EDT, 9 minutes before

SCZ001>004-012200

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREER SC
507 PM EDT SUN APR 01 1990

...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWESTERN SOUTH CAROLINA...
AT 5PM RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CENTERED NEAR WILLIAMSTON
IN EXTREME EASTERN ANDERSON COUNTY.
THIS THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH AND
HAS PRODUCED PEA TO MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN PARTS OF ANDERSON COUNTY.
REM

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 1, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland	45 min
Apr 1, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Catawba, Lincoln	67 min
Apr 1, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cleveland	33 min
Apr 1, 5:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	66 min
Apr 1, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cabarrus	69 min
Apr 1, 7:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Union	42 min
Apr 1, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Lincoln	48 min
Apr 1, 7:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Stanly	43 min
Apr 1, 7:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anson	49 min
Apr 1, 7:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Montgomery, Richmond	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

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.