Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 151, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 15, 1996Johnston County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 15, 1996, 6:30 PM EDT for Johnston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 45 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
Jul 15, 1996, 6:30 PM EDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired
Jul 15, 1996, 7:15 PM EDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Johnston County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:30 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 15, 6:40 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Selma, 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 152 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 1996-07-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 14 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-07-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 153 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
14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
835 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRDU 152233
SVRRDU
NCC101-152315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
630 PM EDT MON JUL 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...JOHNSTON COUNTY
 
AT 630 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
MOVING THROUGH JOHNSTON COUNTY. ACTIVITY EXTENDED FROM JUST EAST OF
CLAYTON SOUTH TO NEAR BENSON. THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT
35 MPH.
 
DOWNBURST WINDS FROM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN SOMETIMES REACH 100
MPH.  A POWERFUL DOWNBURST CAN BE 8AS BAD AS A TORNADO.  THESE WINDS
DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES...OVERTURN MOBILE HOMES...AND DAMAGE
BUILDINGS. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND REPORT DAMAGES PROMPTLY TO
EMERGENCY OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
 
RN/KRC

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, Jul 15, 6:29 PM EDT, 1 minute before
NCZALL-160000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
628 PM EDT MON JUL 15 1996

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES NOW COVER ALL OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
ROUGHLY ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM ROXBORO...HILLSBOROUGH...SILER
CITY...SOUTHERN PINES...AND ROCKINGHAM EASTWARD TO THE COAST.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN EFFECT EARLIER FOR THE NORTHWEST PIEDMONT AND
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT HAVE NOW BEEN CANCELLED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RAD,IO...COMMERICAL RADIO OR TELEVISION FOR
LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

RFG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 15, 3:07 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHStanly38 min
Jul 15, 3:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHMoore32 min
Jul 15, 3:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHDavidson, Montgomery, Stanly47 min
Jul 15, 3:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHRandolph47 min
Jul 15, 5:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHJohnston40 min
Jul 15, 6:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHNash28 min
Jul 15, 6:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHWilson45 min
Jul 15, 6:59 PM EDTTornado WarningRAHJohnston, Wayne31 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1996Every 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.