Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 33, NWS Wilmington, NC

September 8, 1998Pender County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 8, 1998, 3:25 PM EDT for Pender County, North Carolina. It was in force for 30 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
Sep 8, 1998, 3:25 PM EDT (19:25 UTC)
Expired
Sep 8, 1998, 3:55 PM EDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Pender County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:29 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
Sep 8, 3:25 PM EDTHail 1.75Willard, NC
Sep 8, 3:27 PM EDTHail 1.75Willard, NCA thunderstorm moved south across northern Pender County, dropping large hail.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 8, 1:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 97 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, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 1998-09-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1162 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 1998-09-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 206 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
1162 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1381 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
206 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
8.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

887 
WFUS1 KILM 081926 RRA
TORILM
NCC141-081955-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
325 PM EDT TUE SEP 8 1998

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN PENDER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 355 PM EDT

* AT 322 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 24
  MILES NORTH OF WILMINGTON OR 5 MILES WEST OF BURGAW MOVING EAST
  AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
        BURGAW                  BY 335 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.
RA/TM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 8, 2:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen, Robeson48 min
Sep 8, 3:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMPender48 min
Sep 8, 3:38 PM EDTTornado WarningILMColumbus37 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.