Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 140, NWS Wilmington, NC
NWS Wilmington, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 1998, 5:34 PM EDT for Brunswick County, North Carolina. It was in force for 51 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 31, 1998, 5:34 PM EDT (21:34 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 31, 1998, 6:25 PM EDT
- In force
- 51 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 21:30 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 5:45 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 | Maco, NC | Thunderstorm winds downed trees, cutting power, and a person was struck and briefly injured by lightning. |
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 12:00Z, 9.6 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1149 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -52 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1002 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 62 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 47 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 Jul 31, 2:22 PM EDT, 3 hours 12 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 2:22 PM EDT, 3 hours 12 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC 222 PM EDT FRI JUL 31 1998 RDU: 40 POPS FOR TONIGHT. MAYBE A 20/30 POP SE COAST FOR SAT AM. LOWS TONIGHT LOW 70S. HIGHS SAT 80-85. LOWS SAT NIGHT NR 70. HIGHS SUN LOW 80S. CWF: AVN SOLN OF A DEEPENING ALMOST TROPICAL SYSTEM OFF THE NC COAST SAT/SUN WAS DISCARDED AFTER COORD WITH MPC/ILM. INSTEAD A BLEND OF THE NGM/ETA WAS USED WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS FCST. THUS A MINIMAL SCA WILL BE IN PLACE FOR THE ENTIRE COAST AND SOUNDS FOR NE FLOW REGEIME. MODEL WIND SPEED FCSTS SEEMED ON THE LOW SIDE CONSIDERING STRENGTH OF HIGH AND WARM WATER TEMPS OFF THE SE COAST. WILL BRING SPEEDS BELOW SCA LEVELS S COAST AND SOUNDS SAT NIGHT/SUN BUT SEAS WILL BE NR 6 FT. MUST WATCH FOR WAVE DEVELOPMENT ALONG STALLED OUT BNDRY FOR POSSIBLY STRONGER WINDS. DISC: ALL 3 MODELS OFFER DIFFERENT SOLNS FOR THE WEEKEND FORECAST. THE AVN APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING FROM CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK WITH PERSISTENT LOW PRES OFF THE NC COAST. THE ETA/NGM DIFFER WITH RESPECT TO AMOUNT OF DRYING ASSCTD WITH ANTICYLONE RIDGING IN FROM THE LOWER GREAT LAKES SAT AND SUN. THOUGHT THE NGM WAS TOO WET CONSIDERING UPSTREAM CLOUDS OVR PA/NY WHICH ARE INSTAB CU/SC. SO A SLOWED DOWN VERSION OF THE ETA SEEMS LIKE THE BEST CHOICE AT THIS TIME WITH GRADUAL CLEARING BEGINING LATE TONIGHT NRN SECTIONS AND CONTINUING ON SAT FOR SRN AND COASTAL LOCATIONS. THUS SKIES WILL BE MOSTLY CLOUDY ONCE CLEARING ENSUES. FLY IN OINTMENT IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT A LOW WILL TRACK ALONG THE STALLED OFFSHORE FRONT AND THROW SOME MOISTURE BACK AT THE COAST ON SUNDAY. WITH RESPECTS TO THE COLD FRONT CURRENTLY CROSSING THE AREA FEEL THAT PRE-FRONTAL CONVECTION WILL BE LIMITED WITH MOST OF THE "ACTION" POST FRONTAL IN THE FORM OF LIGHT RAIN/DRIZZLE FOR SVRL HRS AFTER FROPA. WARM MID LVL TEMPS AND ONLY WEAK CONVERGENCE INHIBITING WIDESPREAD ACTIVITY. COULD SEE SOME INCREASE TOWARDS EVENING AS ETA/NGM INCREASE LIFT WITH FRONT AS IT CROSSES SRN HALF OF MY CWA. .MHX...SCA COASTAL WATERS AND SOUNDS. ELARDO
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 4:25 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILM | Robeson | 90 min |
| Jul 31, 5:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Columbus | 45 min |
| Jul 31, 5:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Pender | 49 min |
| Jul 31, 6:10 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Bladen, Pender | 35 min |
| Jul 31, 5:59 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Georgetown | 51 min |
| Jul 31, 6:51 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILM | Horry | 59 min |
| Jul 31, 6:52 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILM | Horry | 58 min |
| Jul 31, 7:20 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILM | Georgetown | 75 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.