Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1993

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Raleigh, NC

March 27, 1993Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this tornado warning at Mar 27, 1993, 4:02 PM EST for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 27, 1993, 4:02 PM EST (21:02 UTC)
Expired
Mar 27, 1993, 5:00 PM EST
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 117 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1993-03-27Temperature 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1993-03-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 348 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
516 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
348 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
350 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 272104
TORRDU
NCC183-272200-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
402 PM EST SAT MAR 27 1993
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTH CENTRAL WAKE COUNTY
 
AT 400 PM...THE WAKE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD
NEAR LAKE WHEELER ROAD AND TEN-TEN ROAD JUST SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN RALEIGH.
WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED MOVEMENT TO THE NORTH AT 40 MPH.
 
PEOPLE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD ACT NOW TO PROTECT THEIR
LIVES. GO TO THE LOWEST FLOOR...A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM OR CLOSET.
COVER YOUR HEAD. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. GET OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND
VEHICLES AND INTO A STURDY BUILDING OR A DITCH. REPORT DAMAGE TO
LOCAL EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
 
 
ARKELL

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

Special weather statement, Mar 27, 10:46 AM EST, 5 hours 16 minutes before
NCZALL-280000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
 1045 AM EST SAT MAR 27 1993

NORTH CAROLINA SEVERE THUNDER&STORM OUTLOOK...A FEW SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE
ACROSS EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO..TV..OR WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR
POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

JBP
Special weather statement, Mar 27, 2:12 PM EST, 1 hour 50 minutes before
NCZALL-280000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
210 PM EST SAT MAR 27 1993

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN NORTH CAROLINA
UNTIL 7 PM...

A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM APPROACHING NORTH CAROLINA FROM THE SOUTH EARLY
THIS AFTERNOOON HAS TRIGGERED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHERN
AND EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

AT 145 PM...THE STRONGEST SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTH CAROLINA
WERE IN THE CENTRAL COASTAL PLAINS IN PITT...MARTIN...WAYNE...AND WILSON
COUNTIES.  OTHER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO THE SANDHILLS
FROM SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTH OF A LINE FROM SOUTHERN PINES TO
FAYETTEVILLE. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTH AT 30 MPH.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS.
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR T.V. STATION FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS.

REPEATING...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL
7 PM FOR SOUTHERN AND *EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA...APPROXIMATELY
SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM MONROE TO SOUTHERN PINES TO ROCKY MOUNT
TO ELIZABETH CITY.  THIS MEANS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE
IN THIS AREA UNTIL 7 PM.

ARKELL
Special weather statement, Mar 27, 3:22 PM EST, 40 minutes before
NCZALL-280000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC
320 PM EST SAT MAR 27 1993

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN NORTH CAROLINA
UNTIL 7 PM...

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON FOR MUCH OF
EASTERN AND SOUTHERN NORTH CAROLINA.  SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS BEGAIN
DEVELOPING EARLIER THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM.

AT 315 MPH...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN
HARNETT AND LEE COUNTIES IN THE NORTHERN SANDHILLS.  PEA SIZED HAIL
WAS REPORTED WITH THESE STORMS.  MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTH AT 30 MPH.
THESE STORMS WILL MOVE TO BETWEEN PITTSBORO AND APEX BY 400 PM.  OTHER
THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER THE CjENTRAL COASTAL PLAINS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

ARKELL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 27, 3:31 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHChatham, Wake59 min
Mar 27, 3:37 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWilson68 min
Mar 27, 4:29 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHEdgecombe, Halifax61 min
Mar 27, 4:29 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHNorthampton61 min
Mar 27, 4:53 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHFranklin, Granville67 min
Mar 27, 5:32 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHNorthampton58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1993Every tornado warning in 1993Tornadoes in 1993

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.