Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 34, NWS Wilmington, NC
NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Sep 8, 1998, 3:38 PM EDT for Columbus County, North Carolina. It was in force for 37 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
- Sep 8, 1998, 3:38 PM EDT (19:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 8, 1998, 4:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 37 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wilmington, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Columbus County, NC
The radar
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:39 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 3:39 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Lake Waccamaw, NC | Hail reports came from Lake Waccamaw and near Chadbourn, where a 52 MPH gust was measured, and a funnel cloud was reported sighted at Riegelwood. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 1:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 172 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
909
WFUS1 KILM 081939
TORILM
NCC047-082010-
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
338 PM EDT TUE SEP 8 1998
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON HAS ISSUED A...
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
COLUMBUS COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA
* UNTIL 415 PM EDT
* AT 335 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO
WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL 32 MILES WEST OF WILMINGTON OR
5 MILES WEST OF BOLTON MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
* THIS STORM WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
BOLTON BY 340 PM EDT
FREEMAN BY 355 PM EDT
RIEGLEWOOD BY 400 PM EDT
DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE
EXPECTED. SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING AWAY FROM WINDOWS. DO
NOT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. .. EXCEPT IN AN EMERGENCY. MOTORISTS SHOULD AVOID FLOODED
ROADWAYS.The office that day
Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Robeson | 48 min |
| Sep 8, 3:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Pender | 48 min |
| Sep 8, 3:25 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Pender | 30 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.