Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 1, 1990Alexander County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 1, 1990, 4:59 PM EDT for Alexander County, North Carolina. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report 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, 4:59 PM EDT (20:59 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 1990, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Alexander 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, 5:30 PM EDT	Hail 1	Alexander, 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 116 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: 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSO 012059
SVRGSO
NCC003-012130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
459 PM EDT TUE MAY 1 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      ALEXANDER

AT 500 PM EDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE ALEXANDER
/WILKES COUNTY BORDER. MOVEMENT WAS eTO THE EAST AT 30 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN AN AREA THREATENED BY THE STORM..GO TO A REINFORCED
SHELTER AND PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WINDS..LARGE HAIL..VERY HEAVY
DOWNPOURS AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING.

 GR

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, 3:02 PM EDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before

VAZALL-012000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
250PM  EDT  TUE MAY 1 1990

  ...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...

AT 245PM WEATHER RADAR WAS SHOWING TWO OR THREE VERY HEAVY
THUNDERSTORMS OVER FAR SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AROUND THE DICKENSON
TO WISE TO RUSSELL COUNTY AREA.  POSSIBLE SEVERE WEATHER WAS
INDICATED OVER A STORM ENTERING DICKENSON COUNTY.

THE STORMS WILL BE MOVING INTO THE AREA CENTERED AROUND SMYTH
COUNTY DURING THE NEXT HOUR SO PERSONS IN THESE COUNTIES AND
THE ADJACENT COUNTIES TO THE EAST...BLAND..WYTHE...AND GRAYSON...
SHOULD STAY ALERT FOR POSSIBLE LIGHTNING...HAIL AND HIGH WINDS
DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS...AND STA\Y TUNED TO RADIO AND TV
BROADCASTS PLUS NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS
ON THESE STORMS.
END/MCINTOSH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Stokes	31 min
May 1, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Iredell	31 min
May 1, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Iredell	49 min
May 1, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Guilford, Rockingham	50 min
May 1, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Iredell, Rowan	48 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.