Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Blacksburg, VA

June 3, 1998Ashe County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 1998, 7:48 PM EDT for Ashe County, North Carolina. It was in force for 52 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
Jun 3, 1998, 7:48 PM EDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired
Jun 3, 1998, 8:40 PM EDT
In force
52 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Ashe County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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
Jun 3, 8:25 PM EDTHail 1Lansing, NC
Jun 3, 8:35 PM EDTThunderstorm WindGlendale Spgs, NC

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
Jun 3, 5:00 PM EDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 149 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 1998-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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 1998-06-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 59 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2315 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 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 KROA 032348 RRA
TORRNK
NCC009-040040-

BULLETIN--EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
748 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ASHE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

* UNTIL 840 PM EDT.

* AT 748 PM EDT... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 10
  MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF BOONE OR 3 MILES WEST OF BALDWIN MOVING
  EAST SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
  BALDWIN                         AROUND 750 PM EDT..
  FLEETWOOD                       AROUND 755 PM EDT..
  OTHELLO                         AROUND 800 PM EDT..
  IDLEWILD                        AROUND 800 PM EDT..
  GLENDALE SPRINGS                AROUND 805 PM EDT..

<< CALL TO ACTION >> IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A
NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK REFUGE IN A
CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD ^WITH YOUR HANDS.

.END/DD

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 3, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKStokes51 min
Jun 3, 6:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKRockingham60 min
Jun 3, 6:26 PM EDTTornado WarningRNKRockingham44 min
Jun 3, 6:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKCaswell33 min
Jun 3, 7:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKAshe50 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.