Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 174, NWS Wilmington, NC

October 8, 1996Brunswick County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 8, 1996, 6:08 AM EDT for Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was in force for 52 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: Oct 8, 1996, 6:08 AM EDT (10:08 UTC)
Expired: Oct 8, 1996, 7:00 AM EDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Brunswick County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 19 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:09 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 8, 6:20 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Southport, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: -20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 518 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 148 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 severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 8, 2:45 AM EDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 8, 2:45 AM EDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION ...UPDATED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
244 AM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996

RAH/CAE: PRVS FCST OK ATTM XCPT MAYB BUMP TEMPS DOWN A CAT IN SE NC.
TOR WTCH OUT FOR MOST OF CWA. FFA LUKS GUD. CWF: KP GALES A FLYG FOR NC
CST WTRS. TROP STM WRNG OK FOR THIS MRNG IN SC WTRS.

DISC: WL B BRIEF AS THGS STARTG TO GET GET BUSY ON RDR. STARTG TO SEE
SOME KIND OF SHEAR ZONE IN SE NC ON 88D. LATEST SFC ANAL HAD STM INLAND
NR JAX FL MOVG NEWD. 00Z MDLS APPR TO B SLOW W/SYSM. ETA/AVN FURTHER W
THAN NGM. NGM FURTHER E TRAK MGT B RGT IDEA. W/THETA E RDG SETTG UP ALG
THE CST...SYSMS TEND TO FOLLOW RDG. GRIDDED DATA WAS SHOWG GUD THETA E
ADVECTION W/DECENT DIR/SPD SHEAR. VERY STG UVM ACCORDG TO GRIDDED DATA
THRU 12Z. LOW TOPPED CONVECTION CUD HAVE TORNADOES SPIN OUT ANYTIME AS
SYSM CONTS TO HEAD NEWD & CSTL TROF MIGRATES EWD. WW 1072 TIL 9AM. NE
WNDS TRYG TO GO ARND TO E HERE @ ILM WCH WUD TEND TO INDICATE CSTL FNT
MOVG TWD CST. NE TRAK OF SYSM CUD INHIBIT CSTL FNT FM COMG TOO FAR
INLAND. STARTG TO SEE 40 MPH WNDS ALG SOME CSTL LOCATIONS. SOME POWER
SURGES BEING REPORTED. HVY R BANDS ALRDY COMG INLAND. FLDG PROBS ALMOST
A GIVEN. AS SYSM RACES N OF CWA...THGS WL B IMPROVG BY LATR THIS AFTN
OR ERLY EVNG. CLRG SKIES BY LATE EVNG. PREFER TO STAY CLOSE TO FAN ON
MAX TEMPS TDY. WL AVG FAN/FWC ON TEMPS. LIKE FWC POPS. EXTRA PERSONNEL
ARRIVG ERLY THIS MRNG.

CSTL WTRS: WNDS AVGG 25-30 KTS W/E DIR. SEAS OF 8-10 FT. SOME CSTL FLDG
CSTL FLDG PSBL THIS MRNG. PER AFDMHX...FLDG MGT NOT B TOO GREAT DUE TO
LOW TIDE. GALE FORCE WNDS SHUD ARRIVE THIS MRNG. TROP STM WRNG CUD PROB
COME DOWN AFT 8 AM FOR S OF LTLE RVR. WL SEE HOW TPC FEELS.

MY CCF N&MBRS: ILM 074/061 078/055 071 09+30
              FLO 070/055 077/052 070 09+20

THANX TO MPD(CAE) & RF(MHX) FOR COORD CALLS. TRY TO ENJOY THE DAY!.

...UPDATED TO ADD INFO...
JOE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 8, 4:09 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	New Hanover	3 hr
Oct 8, 6:04 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	Brunswick	3 hr
Oct 8, 6:20 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Columbus	50 min
Oct 8, 6:48 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Pender	42 min
Oct 8, 6:52 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Brunswick	53 min
Oct 8, 7:09 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	Brunswick	3 hr
Oct 8, 7:09 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	New Hanover, Pender	3 hr
Oct 8, 7:35 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	New Hanover, Pender	25 min
Oct 8, 8:09 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	Bladen, Columbus	3 hr
Oct 8, 3:49 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	Georgetown	3 hr
Oct 8, 4:43 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	ILM	Georgetown, Horry	3 hr
Oct 8, 5:09 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Georgetown	51 min
Oct 8, 5:33 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Horry	27 min
Oct 8, 5:45 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Horry	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.