Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 28, NWS Wilmington, NC

July 31, 1998Bladen County, Pender County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Jul 31, 1998, 6:10 PM EDT for Bladen County, Pender County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 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, 6:10 PM EDT (22:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 1998, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Bladen County, NC, Pender County, NC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 31, 6:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65	Tar Heel, NC	Thunderstorm winds damaged trees, but the most significant effect was from lightning, which caused fires reported in White Oak, Dublin and Elizabethtown.

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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 125 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KILM 312210 RRA
TORILM
NCC017-141-312245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
610 PM EDT FRI JUL 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON HAS ISSUED A...

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN BLADEN COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
  SOUTHWESTERN PENDER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 645 PM EDT

* AT 610 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 19
  MILES NORTHWEST OF WILMINGTON OR 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CURRIE
  MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
        CURRIE                  BY 625 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
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, 5:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Brunswick	51 min
Jul 31, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen, Pender	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.