Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 96

March 8, 199830 counties in North Carolina; Horry County, South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 8, 1998, 3:15 PM EST for 30 counties in North Carolina; Horry County, South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 8, 1998, 3:15 PM EST (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Mar 8, 1998, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 31 counties

Beaufort County, NC, Bertie County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Chowan County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Edgecombe County, NC, Gates County, NC, Greene County, NC, Halifax County, NC, Hertford County, NC, Johnston County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, Martin County, NC, Nash County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Northampton County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pasquotank County, NC, Pender County, NC, Perquimans County, NC, Pitt County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Warren County, NC, Washington County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Wilson County, NC, Horry County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:15 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 8, 3:56 PM EST	Tornado Warning	ILM	Columbus	44 min

The nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 115 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: 174 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 539 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 142 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

245 
WWUS9 KMKC 081956
SEL6  
MKC WW 081956
NCZ000-SCZ000-090200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 96
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
256 PM EST SUN MAR 8 1998

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

   EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA                     
   EXTREME NORTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA                     
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL 900
PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO
70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 55 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF MYRTLE BEACH SOUTH
CAROLINA TO 65 MILES NORTHEAST OF ROCKY MOUNT 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...  CONTINUE...WW 93...WW 94...WW 95...

DISCUSSION...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING SLOWLY EASTWARD ACROSS
THE EASTERN CAROLINAS.  RADAR DATA INDICATES A TENDENCY FOR CELLS
TO DEVELOP SMALL-SCALE ROTATION FOR SEVERAL VOLUME SCANS.  LINE IS
MOVING INTO SURFACE THERMAL/INSTABILITY AXIS OVER EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA SUGGESTING STRONG/SEVERE STORMS WILL PERSIST NEXT SEVERAL
HOURS...WITH CONTINUED POTENTIAL FOR BRIEF TORNADO FORMATION. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21045.


...WEISS

333,0792 363,0780 363,0760 333,0773

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 8, 4:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cherokee	5 hr
Mar 8, 12:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	McCormick	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 1998 Tornado Watches in South 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.