Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 21, NWS Blacksburg, VA
NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 1998, 9:18 PM EDT for Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was in force for 32 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, 9:18 PM EDT (01:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 3, 1998, 9:50 PM EDT
- In force
- 32 min
- Issued by
- NWS Blacksburg, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Wilkes County, NC
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 9:25 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Moravian Falls, NC | |
| Jun 3, 9:25 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Moravian Falls, 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 5:00 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 114 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
- 1245 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -64 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1770 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 73 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 146 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 220 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 3.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
735 WFUS01 KRNK 040117 RRA TORRNK NCC193-040150- BULLETIN--EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 918 PM EDT WED JUN 3 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN WILKES COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. * UNTIL 950 PM EDT. * AT 917 PM EDT... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 8 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF WILKESBORO OR 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MORAVIAN FALLS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. << CALL TO ACTION >> THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. ACT QUICKLY IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND FLOOR IF POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT. .END/DD
The office that day
Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 8:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Alleghany | 35 min |
| Jun 3, 8:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Surry | 43 min |
| Jun 3, 8:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Watauga | 50 min |
| Jun 3, 8:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Stokes | 34 min |
| Jun 3, 8:38 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 62 min |
| Jun 3, 9:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Wilkes | 35 min |
| Jun 4, 3:25 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Watauga | 3 hr |
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.