Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 804

August 26, 199830 counties in North Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 26, 1998, 5:00 PM EDT for 30 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 12 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 26, 1998, 5:00 PM EDT (21:00 UTC)
Expired: Aug 27, 1998, 5:00 AM EDT
In force: 12 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 30 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Camden County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Craven County, NC, Currituck County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:01 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.

Warnings issued inside it

5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 5:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Hyde, Tyrrell	48 min
Aug 26, 5:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MHX	Jones	47 min
Aug 26, 5:45 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Beaufort, Pitt	4 hr
Aug 26, 6:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Bertie, Hertford	19 min
Aug 26, 7:28 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Wilson	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 356 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 981 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 80 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.

372 
WWUS9 KMKC 262033
SEL4  
MKC WW 262033
NCZ000-270900-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 804
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
433 PM EDT WED AUG 26 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTH CAROLINA                     
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 500 PM
UNTIL 500 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF
A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF GOLDSBORO NORTH CAROLINA TO 25
MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 803.  WATCH NUMBER 803 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 500 PM
EDT.

DISCUSSION...CONVECTIVE BANDS CONTINUE TO ROTATE NWWD INTO PARTS OF
NORTH CAROLINA IN ASSOCIATION WITH HURRICANE BONNIE.  VAD WIND
PROFILES FROM KMHX SHOW 60-70 KT WINDS ABOVE THE SURFACE WITH VERY
STRONG SHEAR IN THE LOWEST 1-2 KM.  RADAR VELOCITY DATA HAVE
PERIODICALLY SHOWN WEAK ROTATION WITH SOME CELLS...AND POTENTIAL
FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE NIGHTTIME
HOURS WITHIN THE NERN QUADRANT OF THE TROPICAL CIRCULATION. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH EXTREME
TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI
WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 300.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 14055.


...WEISS

363,0781 363,0752 343,0752 344,0781

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 5:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 23 more	12 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 1998 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.