Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 41, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 6:34 PM EDT for Lincoln County, North Carolina. It was in force for 46 min. 2 reports 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
- May 7, 1998, 6:34 PM EDT (22:34 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 1998, 7:20 PM EDT
- In force
- 46 min
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lincoln County, NC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:36 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 6:49 PM EDT | Tornado F2 | Vale, NC | The same supercell that produced the tornado in McDowell county spawned a strong tornado in the Vale and Cat Square area. Four homes were destroyed, 50 homes were damaged, a church roof was partially blown off and numerous trees were downed. |
| May 7, 7:25 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Denver, NC | A weak tornado developed once again from the same supercell that produced the tornado earlier near Vale. The tornado tracked east-southeast from Denver and became a waterspout as it crossed Lake Norman and moved into Mecklenburg county. Trees and power lines w |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 5:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 136 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 49 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 523 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 31 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 53 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
065 WFUS1 KGSP 072235 RRA TORGSP NCC109-072320- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 634 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... LINCOLN COUNTY IN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 720 PM EDT * AT 635 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO IN SOUTHEASTERN BURKE COUNTY... MOVING EAST- SOUTHEAST 35 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... VALE AND REEPSVILLE AT 645 PM AND LINCOLTON AT 650 PM IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. STAY AWAY FROM DOORS AND WINDOWS. KAJ
The office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 3:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Mitchell, Yancey | 48 min |
| May 7, 3:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Madison | 50 min |
| May 7, 4:05 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Madison | 45 min |
| May 7, 4:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Yancey | 44 min |
| May 7, 4:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Madison | 49 min |
| May 7, 5:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Buncombe | 32 min |
| May 7, 5:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Alexander | 35 min |
| May 7, 5:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | McDowell | 46 min |
| May 7, 5:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Graham | 49 min |
| May 7, 5:33 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Iredell | 47 min |
| May 7, 5:40 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | McDowell | 45 min |
| May 7, 5:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Caldwell | 49 min |
| May 7, 5:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Davie | 34 min |
| May 7, 6:09 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Alexander | 46 min |
| May 7, 6:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Haywood | 49 min |
| May 7, 6:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Burke | 48 min |
| May 7, 6:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Iredell | 49 min |
| May 7, 6:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Buncombe | 60 min |
| May 7, 7:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Haywood | 64 min |
| May 7, 7:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Rowan | 64 min |
| May 7, 7:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | McDowell | 64 min |
| May 7, 7:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Iredell, Mecklenburg | 33 min |
| May 7, 7:54 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cabarrus | 46 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes in 1998
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.