Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 233, NWS Raleigh, NC

July 20, 1998Randolph County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1998, 6:57 PM EDT for Randolph County, North Carolina. It was in force for 33 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 20, 1998, 6:57 PM EDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1998, 7:30 PM EDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Randolph County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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
Jul 20, 7:00 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50Ramseur, NCSeveral trees were downed in southeast Randolph county. One large limb fell onto a car traveling on Highway 64 breaking the front glass and causing an accident. No one was injured.

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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 42 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 24 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -9 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-277 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1753 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
76 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.

326 
WUUS1 KRDU 202258 RRA
SVRRDU
NCC151-202330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
657 PM EDT MON JUL 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT

* AT 655 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF SEAGROVE... MOVING SOUTH-
  SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  PISGAH AROUND 705 PM EDT

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

THIS STORM PRODUCED LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS BETWEEN 630 AND
655 PM EDT.

JBM

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, Jul 20, 6:35 PM EDT, 22 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
635 PM EDT MON JUL 20 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0625 PM    ASHEBORO                  NC   WIND DAMAGE
07/20/98   RANDOLPH                       EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
                                          REPORTED TREES DOWNED ON
                                          OLD LEXINGTON RD. ABOUT 5
                                          MILES NW OF
                                          ASHEBORO...DIME-SIZE HAIL
                                          WAS ALSO REPORTED.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 19, 8:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHScotland64 min
Jul 19, 9:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHHoke50 min
Jul 20, 6:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHRandolph33 min
Jul 20, 7:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRAHHalifax35 min
Jul 20, 7:17 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHRandolph118 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.