Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 20, 1998Rockingham County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Mar 20, 1998, 4:21 PM EST for Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 19 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: Mar 20, 1998, 4:21 PM EST (21:21 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 1998, 4:40 PM EST
In force: 19 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Rockingham County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:23 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
Mar 20, 4:30 PM EST	Hail 1.75	Eden, 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
Mar 20, 1:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 93 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

024 
WFUS01 KRNK 202122 RRA
TORRNK
NCC157-202140-

BULLETIN--EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
421 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 440 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

   ...NORTHERN ROCKINGHAM COUNTY


AT 420 PM EST... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 15
MILES SOUTHEAST OF MARTINSVILLE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF
NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE..SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS
A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR
CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

DD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 7:04 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Ashe, Watauga	3 hr
Mar 20, 7:20 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Ashe	35 min
Mar 20, 7:32 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Alleghany	48 min
Mar 20, 7:40 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Alleghany	3 hr
Mar 20, 10:21 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Ashe, Watauga	3 hr
Mar 20, 11:21 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Watauga	34 min
Mar 20, 2:44 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Stokes	66 min
Mar 20, 2:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Stokes	45 min
Mar 20, 3:23 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Rockingham	62 min
Mar 20, 3:35 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RNK	Rockingham	30 min
Mar 20, 3:49 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Caswell	51 min
Mar 20, 4:57 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Caswell	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Carolina, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.