Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 16, 1994Gaston County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1994, 5:42 PM EDT for Gaston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 48 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 16, 1994, 5:42 PM EDT (21:42 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1994, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Gaston County, NC

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 37 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 625 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 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 KCLT 162143
TORCLT
NCC071-162230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
542 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLOTTE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM EDT
FOR EVERYONE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...GASTON COUNTY
 
AT 541 PM EDT WEATHER RADAR SHOWER A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR GASTONIA
IN GASTON COUNTY. THIS THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING TO THE NORTH AT
ABOUT 20 MPH.
 
 
TORNADOES IN TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS USUALLY DEVELOP QUICKLY...
MOVE RAPIDLY...AND CAN OCCUR REPEATEDLY FROM THE SAME BAND OF
THUNDERSTORMS. IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNED AREA AND ARE CLOSE TO A
THUNDERSTORM...TAKE COVER AND STAY THERE UNTIL IT PASSES.
 
JPW

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, Aug 16, 4:11 PM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before

NCZ056-068>074-082>084-DDHHMM-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
407 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM FOR MUCH OF THE
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT AND SECTIONS OF THE NORTHERN FOOTHILLS OF NORTH
CAROLINA. THE WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN NORTH
CAROLINA..CATAWBA...CLEVELAND...LINCOLN...GASTON...MECKLENBURG...
CABARRUS...UNION...ANSON...STANLY...MONTGOMERY...RICHMOND...IREDELL
AND ROWAN ALSO YORK COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA. A TORNADO WATCH IS IN
EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR CHEROKEE...CHESTER AND LANCASTER COUNTIES
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

AT 405 PM EDT WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LARGE AREA OF RAIN WITH IMBEDDED
THUNDERSTORMS JUST SOUTH OF CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA. THE RAIN AND
THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED SOUTH INTO CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA AND WEST INTO
THE MOUNTAIN AND FOOTHILLS OF BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA.

REPORTS FROM THE WEATHER OFFICE IN COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA REPORTED
SEVERAL TORNADOES IN THE CENTRAL SECTIONS OF SOUTH CAROLINA THIS
AFTERNOON.

EVERYONE IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS WILL EXPERIENCE HEAVY RAIN ...
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND POSSIBLE HAIL.

CONTINUE TO MONITOR YOUR RADIO ... TELEVISION OR YOUR NOAA WEATHER
RADIO FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS.

JPW

Local storm report, Aug 16, 4:22 PM EDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
422 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

TIME        EVENT

415 PM EDT  MONARCH AREA UNION COUNTY...APPARENT TORNADO DAMAGE.
            TREES ACROSS ROADS AND OTHER...FROM AMATEUR RADIO.

WAJ

Local storm report, Aug 16, 4:23 PM EDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
422 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

TIME        EVENT

415 PM EDT  MONARCH AREA UNION COUNTY...APPARENT TORNADO DAMAGE.
            TREES ACROSS ROADS AND OTHER...FROM AMATEUR RADIO.

WAJ

Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:29 PM EDT, 13 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
530 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

TIME        EVENT

445 PM EDT  TORNADO NEAR PAULINE IN SPARTANBURG. DAMAGE TO HOME.
            REPORTED BY DEVPUTY SHERIFF.

515 PM EDT  POSSIBLE TORNADO WEST OF COWPENS NEAR PLEASANT VALLEY RD.
            SPARTANBURG EOC REPORT.

CAL

Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:40 PM EDT, 2 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
540 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

TIME        EVENT

525 PM EDT  DAMAGE TO FRAME HOME AND MOBILE HOME OFF FOUNDATION.
            POWER LINES DOWN. ALL ON OLD PACOLET RD .SPARTANBURG EOC
            REPORT.

CAL

 RD.
            SPARTANBURG EOC REPORT.

CAL

Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:40 PM EDT, 2 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
540 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

TIME        EVENT

525 PM EDT  DAMAGE TO FRAME HOME AND MOBILE HOME OFF FOUNDATION.
            POWER LINES DOWN. ALL ON OLD PACOLET RD .SPARTANBURG EOC
            REPORT.

CAL

 RD.
            SPARTANBURG EOC REPORT.

CAL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 4:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Union	28 min
Aug 16, 6:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cleveland	25 min
Aug 16, 6:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cleveland	30 min
Aug 16, 7:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Catawba	30 min
Aug 16, 7:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Rutherford	25 min
Aug 16, 7:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Caldwell	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

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.