Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1990

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Raleigh, NC

April 2, 1990Durham County, Orange County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Apr 2, 1990, 6:47 PM EDT for Durham County, Orange County, North Carolina. It was in force for 43 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 2, 1990, 6:47 PM EDT (22:47 UTC)
Expired: Apr 2, 1990, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Durham County, NC, Orange 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -95 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1369 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 57 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 KRDU 022249
TORRDU
NCC063-135-022330-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
647 PM EDT MON APR 2 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
          ...NORTHERN DURHAM...NORTHERN ORANGE
 
AT 644 PM EDT WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF
HILLSBOROUGH IN NORTHERN ORANGE COUNTY. AT 645 PM A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS
REPORTED BY OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICER IN ROUGEMOUNT IN NORTHERN DURHAM
COUNTY. THIS DANGEROUS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL MOVE
ACROSS NORTHERN DURHAM COUNTY.
 
 
PEOPLE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE
ACTION TO PROTECT THEIR LIVES. GO TO A BASEMENT...THE CENTER OF
BUILDINGS...COVER YOUR HEAD. DO NOT GO NEAR DOORS OR WINDOWS. GET
OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. GET INTO A STURDY BUILDING OR A
DITCH.
 Z

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 1, 8:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Scotland	52 min
Apr 1, 11:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke	37 min
Apr 1, 11:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	41 min
Apr 2, 12:06 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	24 min
Apr 2, 5:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Moore	35 min
Apr 2, 5:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Hoke	36 min
Apr 2, 6:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland, Harnett	46 min
Apr 2, 6:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham, Orange	36 min
Apr 2, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RAH	Granville, Wake	32 min
Apr 2, 7:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	20 min
Apr 2, 7:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin	59 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1990 Every tornado warning in 1990 Tornadoes 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.