Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 38, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 1, 1990Avery County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 1990, 5:02 PM EDT for Avery County, North Carolina. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 1, 1990, 5:02 PM EDT (21:02 UTC)
Expired
May 1, 1990, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Avery 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 182 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 1990-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 564 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 1990-05-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 50 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
564 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-160 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1024 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

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 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, May 1, 12:00 PM EDT, 5 hours 2 minutes before
SCZ001>004-011800

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREER SC
1159 AM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

...HOT SUMMER LIKE WEATHER SETTLES OVER THE UPSTATE...

TEMPERATURES WERE CLIMBING SHARPLY DURING THE MORNING HOURS
IN NORTHWESTERN SOUTH CAROLINA...AND RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON. AT THE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG
AIRPORT THE RECORD HIGH FOR THE 1ST DAY OF MAY IS 89 DEGREES
...AND THE FORECAST CALLS FOR A HIGH TODAY IN THE LOW 90S.

THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME VERY UNSTABLE WITH THE AFTERNOON
HEATING...THUS PRODUCING SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. A FEW UPSTATE
COMMUNITIES MAY EXPERIENCE A POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...
WITH STRONG GUSTY WIND...AND HAIL...LATER THIS A/FTERNOON OR
EVENING.

YOU MAY WISH TO CHECK NOAA WEATHER RADIO OFTEN TODAY FOR THE
LATEST STATEMENTS OR BULLETINS.
MUSGROVE
Special weather statement, May 1, 3:38 PM EDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
NCZ007-009-010-011-012-012230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
345 PM EDT TUE  MAY 01 1990

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF WESTERN NORTH
CAROLINA UNTIL 9 PM...

AT 330 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
IN EASTERN TENNESSEE JUST WEST OF KNOXVILLE MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT
ABOUT 40 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO EXTREME WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  SOME OF THE HEAVIER STORMS MAY
PRODUCE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF ONE OF THESE STORMS..TAKE SLELTER UNTIL IT
PASSES.

STAY TUNED TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADIO FOR THE LATEST
STATEMENTS AND WARNINGS.   YOU WILL HEAR IT FIRST ON THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE RADIO.

THE NEXT STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AROUND 6 PM.

OS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 1, 5:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPGraham, Swain61 min
May 1, 5:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPPolk, Rutherford66 min
May 1, 5:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCherokee58 min
May 1, 6:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCaldwell57 min
May 1, 6:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPPolk, Rutherford60 min
May 1, 6:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPBurke69 min
May 1, 7:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPGaston69 min
May 1, 7:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPCherokee, Spartanburg64 min
May 1, 7:37 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAnderson, Pickens38 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1990Every 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.