Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 25, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 1, 1990Greene County, Lenoir County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 1990, 9:40 PM EDT for Greene County, Lenoir County, North Carolina. It was in force for 65 min. 2 reports 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 1, 1990, 9:40 PM EDT (01:40 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 1990, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Greene County, NC, Lenoir 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 1, 9:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Lenoir, NC
May 1, 10:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Greene, 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

Cape Hatteras, NC (KHAT), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 211 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -129 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1217 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 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 KRDU 020142
SVRRDU
NCC079-107-020245-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
940 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...GREENE COUNTY...LENOIR COUNTY
 
AT 945 PM EDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN
WAYNE COUNTY MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH. THESE STORMS WILL
BE PASSING OVER THE COMMUNITIES OF SNOW HILL...LAGRANGE...AND KINSTON.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OF 60 MPH TO OVER 100
MPH. THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...P7OWER LINES...AND SEVERELY
DAMAGE MOBILE HOMES...SOMETIMES BUILDINGS. VERY LARGE HAIL CAN
INJURE ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE.

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

Local storm report, May 1, 8:11 PM EDT, 1 hour 29 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
809 PM EDT TUE MAY 01 1990

TIME           EVENT
 8:05 PM EDT   TREE BLOWN DOWN IN DOWNTOWN RALEIGH
               WINDS ESTIMATED 45 MPH IN NORTH RALEIGH
               REPORTED BY WAKE COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

RFG

Local storm report, May 1, 8:31 PM EDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  GREENSBORO NC
830 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

ATTN SELS...

TIME             EVENT

450 PM EDT       11/2 HAIL IN BOOMER IN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF WILKES COUNTY.

521 PM EDT       MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN SUGARLOAF AREA OF NORTHEAST ALEXANDER
                 COUNTY.

525 PM EDT       MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN REIDSVILLE OF EASTERN ROCKINGHAM COUNTY.

530 PM EDT       QUARTER SIZE HAIL IN DANBURY OF CENTRAL STOKES COUNTY.

635 PM EDT       HAM RADIO OPERATOR REPORTS WIND GUSTS OF 50 TO 60 MPH IN
                 HIGH POINT IN GUILFORD COUNTY.
635 PM EDT       MARBLE SIZE HAIL REPORTED BY WEATHER SERVICE EMPLOYEE
                 IN THE CITY OF GREENSBORO

645 PM EDT       GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL IN GIBSONVILLE OF EASTERN GUILFORD
                 COUNTY REPORTED BY A HAM RADIO OPERATOR.

720 PM EDT       POWER LINE DOWN OVER MANY PARTS OF SOUTHERN IREDELL
                 COUNTY.

GR

Local storm report, May 1, 8:53 PM EDT, 47 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  GREENSBORO NC
850 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

ATTN SELS...

TIME             EVENT

730 PM EDT       8 TO 10 INCH DIAMETER/40 FOOT TALL TREE DOWN IN THE
                 SOUTHEAST SECTION OF SALISBURY IN ROWAN COUNTY REPORTED
                 BY COOPERATIVE WEATHER SPOTTER. TRAFFIC HAD TO BE REROUTED.
                 POWER LINES DOWN IN THE CITY. ONE CAUSED A FIRE.

GR

Special weather statement, May 1, 9:08 PM EDT, 32 minutes before

NCZ006-007-020200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
905 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 MIDNIGHT EDT FOR THE NORTHWEST
   PIEDMONT OF NC...
...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CANCELLED FOR THE NORTHERN FOOTHILLS...

AT 905 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS...SOME
WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN...EXTENDING THROUGH CHARLOTTE OF THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT
TO THE SANDHILLS NORTHWEST OF FAYETTEVILLE. ONLY LIGHT RAIN AND SHOWERS REMAIN
IN THE SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT. MOVEMENT EAST AT 30 MPH.

AT THIS TIME THERE ARE NO STORMS CLOSE TO SEVERE CRITERIA IN THE NORTHWEST
PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA.

THIS SHOULD BE THE LAST STATEMENT CONCERNING THIS EVENT THIS EVENING.

GR

Local storm report, May 1, 9:10 PM EDT, 30 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
908 PM EDT TUE MAY 01 1990

TIME           EVENT
 800 PM EDT    TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN NORTHERN AND EASTERN
               CHATHAM COUNTY...SOME NEAR ORANGE COUNTY LINE...OTHERS
               BETWEEN PITTSBORO AND MONCURE. REPORTED BY CHATHAM
               COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.

RFG

Local storm report, May 1, 9:39 PM EDT, 1 minute before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
935 PM EDT TUE MAY 01 1990

TIME           EVENT
915 PM EDT     SHERIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED TREE DOWN IN THE SOUTHERN
               PART OF WILSON .COUNTY.

845-930 PM EDT JOHNSTON COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS HAD SEVERAL
               REPORTS OF TREES DOWN FROM SMITHFIELD TO THE NORTHERN
               PART OF JOHNSTON COUNTY.

JBP

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 8:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	66 min
May 1, 8:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston	52 min
May 1, 9:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne, Wilson	55 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.