Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1991

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Wilmington, NC

March 2, 1991Columbus County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Mar 2, 1991, 10:34 AM EST for Columbus County, North Carolina. It was in force for 41 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 2, 1991, 10:34 AM EST (15:34 UTC)
Expired
Mar 2, 1991, 11:15 AM EST
In force
41 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Columbus County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 3.6 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1991-03-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1991-03-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -347 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
720 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-347 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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 tornado 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, Mar 2, 6:03 AM EST, 4 hours 31 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
600 AM EST SAT MAR 2 1991

445 AM EST NORTHERN NEW-HANOVER COUNTY NC.  OAKLEY CIRCLE OFF US117.
LARGE LIMBS BROKEN OFF AND BLOWN INTO A MOBLE HOME.

AyPPROX. SAME TIME...LARGE DUMPSTERS OVERTURNED IN NORTHERN NEW-HANOVER
COUNTY NEAR SR421.

TGO
Special weather statement, Mar 2, 7:48 AM EST, 2 hours 46 minutes before
NCZ001-002-003-017-DDHHMM-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CAPE HATTERAS NC
0745 AM EST SAT MAR 02 1991

        ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN EFFECT NORTH OF THE
         OREGON INLET UNTIL 8 AM...

        ...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS THE PAMLICO SOUND...

AT 735 AM...THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLY SEVERE...WERE MOVING ACROSS
THE PAMLICO SOUND...THE OUTER BANKS AND THE COASTAL WATERS.
MARINERS AND FISHERMEN SHOULD BE ALERT FOR THESE DANGEROUS STORMS
AMD TAKE SHELTER OR SAFE HARBOR IF NECESSARY.  WINDS GUSTING TO
80 MPH HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITH THESE STORMS.

THESE STORMS WERE PART OF A LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS AND
AND RAINSHOWERS THAT COVERED MUCH OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA AND
SOUTHEAST VIRGINIA.  EARLIER THIS MORNING THIS WEATHER SYSTEM
SPAWNED TORNADOES IN PASQUOTANK COUNTY DAMAGING BUILDINGS AND
BRINGING DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES.

WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS...SOME HEAVY...WERE OVER
THE COASTAL AND OFFSHORE WATERS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 45 MILES AN
HOUR.

LEIN
Local storm report, Mar 2, 8:04 AM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CAPE HATTERAS NC
 800 AM EST SAT MAR 02 1991

 TIME            EVENT
 0620 AM EST     TORNADO...PASQUOTANK COUNTY... NORTH OF
                 ELIZABETH CITY.  HEAVY DAMAGE TO POWER LINES
                 ...TREES BLOWN DOWN AND BLOCKING ROADS.  HEAVY
                 ROOF DAMAGE TO TWO BUILDINGS.  HEAVY TREE DAMAGE
                 OF THE PASQUOTANK/CAMDEN COUNTY LINE WIHIN 9 MILES
                 OF THE T5ORNADO TOUCHDOWN.  NO REPORTS OF INJURIES.

LEIN
Special weather statement, Mar 2, 8:30 AM EST, 2 hours 4 minutes before
NCZ001-002-003-017-DDHHMM-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CAPE HATTERAS NC
830 AM EST SAT MAR 02 1991

    ...THUNDERSTORMS MOVE OVER THE COASTAL AND OFFSHORE WATERS...

AT 825 AM...A LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINSHOWERS...SOME
HEAVY...COVERED A LARGE PORTION OF EASTERN NORTH CROLINA...SOUTHEAST
VIRGINIA AND THE COASTAL AND OFFSHORE WATERS.

THE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINSHOWERS WAS EAST OF A LINE FROM
SWANSBORO NORTH CAROLINA TO NEWPORT NEWS VIRGINIA.  A HEAVY SHOWER
WAS 10 MILES SOUTH OF CAPE HATTERAS.  OTHERWISE...THE HEAVIEST SHOWERS
WERE OVER THE OFFSHORE WATERS OF NORTH CAROLINA....60 TO 90 MILES
NORTHEAST AND EAST OF CAPE HATTERAS.
^
THE THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINSHOWERS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 45 MILES
AN HOUR.
LEIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 2, 4:19 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBrunswick, New Hanover, Pender56 min
Mar 2, 11:16 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBrunswick44 min
Mar 2, 11:16 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1991Every tornado warning in 1991Tornadoes in 1991

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.