Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 16, NWS Wilmington, NC
NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at May 23, 1998, 3:07 PM EDT for New Hanover County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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 23, 1998, 3:07 PM EDT (19:07 UTC)
- Expired
- May 23, 1998, 3:40 PM EDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wilmington, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County New Hanover County, NC
The radar
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:07 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 23, 3:10 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 60 | Wrightsville Beach, NC | Along with quarter-size hail, winds tossed small boats on trailers and blew down fences. |
| May 23, 3:15 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Wilmington, NC | Tornado touchdown occurred on U.S. 421, and proceeded about 1.5 miles SE to Monkey Junction at N.C. 132. Damage was spotty. A 30 foot camper trailer was tossed 150 feet into a vacant mobile home, destroying both. Roofing from another building broke through a 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 nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 112 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
- 52 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -108 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 761 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 56 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
404
WFUS1 KILM 231909 RRA
TORILM
NCC129-231940-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
307 PM EDT SAT MAY 23 1998
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A...
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NEW HANOVER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
* UNTIL 340 PM EDT
* AT 306 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO
OVER THE CITY OF WILMINGTON MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
* THE STORM WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
MONKEY JUNCTION BY 310 PM EDT
MYRTLE GROVE BY 310 PM EDT
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH BY 315 PM EDT
MASONBORO BY 315 PM EDT
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR OF A BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...LAY
DOWN IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.The office that day
Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 1:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Pender | 41 min |
| May 23, 2:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Pender | 35 min |
| May 23, 2:38 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Pender | 47 min |
| May 23, 2:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Brunswick, New Hanover | 49 min |
| May 23, 4:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Pender | 48 min |
| May 23, 5:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | New Hanover | 33 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.