Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 2, 1990Swain County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 2, 1990, 8:08 PM EDT for Swain County, North Carolina. It was in force for 67 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 2, 1990, 8:08 PM EDT (00:08 UTC)
Expired
May 2, 1990, 9:15 PM EDT
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Swain 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

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 172 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 00:00Z on 1990-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 264 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 00:00Z on 1990-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 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
264 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2185 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAVL 030008
SVRAVL
NCC173-030115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
808 PM EDT WED MAY 2 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      SWAIN

AT 804 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM
ENTERING WESTERN SWAIN COUNTY. THIS THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST
AROUND 20 MILES AN HOUR. THIS THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED LARGE HAIL IN
TENNESSEE AND IS MOVING TOWARD FONTANA LAKE IN SWAIN COUNTY.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE, SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING 'WIND, LARGE HAIL, VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.  STAY
INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

SCOTT

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 2, 7:13 PM EDT, 55 minutes before
SCZ001>002-030000

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
713 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN GREENVILLE COUNTY...
AT 710PM RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN
GREENVILLE COUNTY NORTH OF CLEVELAND. THIS STORM IS MOVING TOWARD
THE EAST AT ABOUT 35 MPH AND PROBABLY WILL PRODUCE SOME SMALL HAIL
AND POSSIBLY STRONG GUSTY WIND AS IT MOVES ACROSS NORTHERN GREENVILLE
AND NORTHERN SPARTANBURG COUNTIES.
Special weather statement, May 2, 7:15 PM EDT, 53 minutes before
SCZ001>002-030000

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC...CORRECTIOM DATE...
713 PM EDT WED MAY 2 1990

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN GREENVILLE COUNTY...
AT 710PM RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN
GREENVILLE COUNTY NORTH OF CLEVELAND. THIS STORM IS MOVING TOWARD
THE EAST AT ABOUT 35 MPH AND PROBABLY WILL PRODUCE SOME SMALL HAIL
AND POSSIBLY STRONG GUSTY WIND AS IT MOVES ACROSS NORTHERN GREENVILLE
AND NORTHERN SPARTANBURG COUNTIES.
Special weather statement, May 2, 7:53 PM EDT, 15 minutes before
SCZ001>002-030030

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
753 PM EDT WED MAY 2 1990

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHERN GREENVILLE COUNTY...

AT 745 PM EDT THE LANDRUM POLICE REPORTED THROUGH THE SPARTANBURG
COMMUNICATIONS CENTER THAT THE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH
EXTREME NORTHERN GREENVILLE AND SPARTANBURG COUNTIES PRODUCED WINDS TO
ABOUT 30 MPH AND MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN LANDRUM.
Special weather statement, May 2, 8:08 PM EDT, 0 minutes before
SCZ001>002-030045

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
807 PM EDT WED MAY 2 1990

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHERN GREENVILLE AND SPARTANBURG
COUNTIES...

AT 803 WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING SOUTHEAST INTO
THE CHESNEE AND BATTLEGROUND AREAS OF SPARTANBURG AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES.
THIS STORM PROBABLY CONTAINS HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS.  HAIL WAS EARLER
REPORTED IN LANDRUM.  OTHER STORMS WERE SHOWN MOVING OVER EXTREME
NORTHERN SECTIONS OF GREENVILLE COUNTY...WHICH HAS HAD SEVERAL STORMS
LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING.

WAJ

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 9:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPMecklenburg61 min
May 2, 10:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAnson, Union69 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.