Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 12, NWS Raleigh, NC
NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 20, 1998, 6:00 PM EST for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 35 min. 4 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
- Mar 20, 1998, 6:00 PM EST (23:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 20, 1998, 6:35 PM EST
- In force
- 35 min
- Issued by
- NWS Raleigh, NC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Wake County, NC
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 6:15 PM EST | Tornado F0 | Holly Spgs, NC | A home video of this storm showed a wall cloud with several small vortices. One of these touched down very briefly and damaged the roof of one home. The adjacent homes, and there were many, were untouched. The insulation from the home was then spread into a |
| Mar 20, 6:25 PM EST | Hail 0.75 | Cary, NC | Dime size hail was reported by National Weather Service Employees at Waverly Place in Cary and at a Raleigh residence near Gorman Street and the Beltline. |
| Mar 20, 6:40 PM EST | Tornado F2 | Garner, NC | The tornado remained a funnel as it roared over the Greenbrier Estates just east of US401. Trees were sporadically uprooted and snapped off. Several trees fell on homes and outbuildings. The tornado touched down on Highway 70 at a church. The roof of one secti |
| Mar 20, 6:45 PM EST | Tornado F0 | Raleigh, NC | The storm that hit Garner produced another tornado 6 miles to the northeast on the east side of Raleigh. Damage began just off US64 at Wake Medical Center and the Tower Shopping Center. Cars were overturned, trees were damaged, and a steel-beamed billboard wa |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 1:00 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 174 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 595 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 179 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 234 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.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Mar 20, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
330 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0238 PM PFAFFTOWN NC 1 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 FORSYTH REPORTED BY SKYWARN
SPOTTER
0320 PM WINSTON SALEM NC 1 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 FORSYTH QUARTER INCH HAIL REPORTED
BY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENTLocal storm report, Mar 20, 4:18 PM EST, 1 hour 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
418 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0412 PM SOPHIA NC .75 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 RANDOLPH THREE QUARTER INCH HAIL
REPORTED IN SOPHIA...PER
RANDOLPH COUNTY SHERIFFLocal storm report, Mar 20, 5:01 PM EST, 59 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
501 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0315 PM MEBANE NC .5 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 ALAMANCE HALF INCH HAIL NEAR THE
ALAMANCE/ORANGE COUNTY
LINE NEAR I-85
0359 PM ROXBORO NC 2 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 PERSON TWO INCH HAIL REPORTED BY
SKYWARN
0359 PM DENTON NC .75 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 DAVIDSON REPORTED BY SKYWARN
0404 PM FLINT HILL NC .5 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 RANDOLPH HALF INCH HAIL REPORTED
WESTERN PORTION OF
COUNTY...PEA SIZE IN
ARCHDALE
0438 PM BURLINGTON NC 1 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 ALAMANCE QUARTER SIZE HAIL BETWEEN
GRAHAM & BURLINGTON...RPTD
BY WEATHER OBSERVERLocal storm report, Mar 20, 5:05 PM EST, 55 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
505 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0500 PM BURLINGTON NC .75 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 ALAMANCE DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED ON
COY STREET BY WEATHER
SPOTTERLocal storm report, Mar 20, 5:50 PM EST, 10 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
550 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0318 PM WINSTON SALEM NC 1 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 FORSYTH SHERIFF DEPT. REPORTED
QUARTER INCH HAIL IN
WINSTON SALEM.
0320 PM WINSTON SALEM NC 1 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 FORSYTH REPORTED BY FORSYTH COUNTY
SHERIFFLocal storm report, Mar 20, 5:54 PM EST, 6 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
554 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998
TIME(EST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0548 PM PISGAH NC .75 INCH HAIL
03/20/98 RANDOLPH RANDOLPH COUNTY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT REPORTED DIME
SIZE HAIL IN THE PISGAH
COMMUNITYThe office that day
Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20, 2:35 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Forsyth | 30 min |
| Mar 20, 3:17 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Forsyth | 33 min |
| Mar 20, 3:36 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Davidson | 34 min |
| Mar 20, 3:54 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Randolph | 31 min |
| Mar 20, 4:15 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Person | 30 min |
| Mar 20, 4:20 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Guilford | 35 min |
| Mar 20, 4:41 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance | 34 min |
| Mar 20, 5:27 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Person | 33 min |
| Mar 20, 5:33 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Randolph | 32 min |
| Mar 20, 5:58 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Durham, Orange | 32 min |
| Mar 20, 6:26 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Chatham, Wake | 34 min |
| Mar 20, 6:28 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Alamance | 32 min |
| Mar 20, 6:44 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Granville | 31 min |
| Mar 20, 6:50 PM EST | Tornado Warning | RAH | Granville | 35 min |
| Mar 20, 6:56 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Orange | 29 min |
| Mar 20, 6:56 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RAH | Franklin | 29 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.