Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 44, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 20, 2000Forsyth County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 2000, 6:22 PM EDT for Forsyth County, North Carolina. It was in force for 28 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 20, 2000, 6:22 PM EDT (22:22 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2000, 6:50 PM EDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Forsyth County, NC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 20, 6:25 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 E	Countywide, NC
May 20, 6:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 E	Clemmons, NC	Trees reported down.
May 20, 6:50 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 E	Winston Salem, NC	Trees blown down along Thomasville Road.

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
May 20, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 144 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: 38 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -61 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 696 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 130 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.

002 
WUUS52 KRAH 202224
SVRRDU
NCC067-202250-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
622 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  FORSYTH COUNTY IN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 650 PM EDT

* AT 622 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 14 MILES WEST OF CLEMMONS...OR ABOUT 22 MILES
  WEST OF WINSTON-SALEM...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
   CLEMMONS AT 640 PM EDT
   LEWISVILLE AT 645 PM EDT
   RURAL HALL...PFAFFTOWN...DONNAHA AT 650 PM EDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE 
FOR DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF 
DAMAGING WINDS. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...PREFERABLY 
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3624 8065 3589 8060 3608 8006 3625 8018

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Raleigh, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 20, 2:00 PM EDT, 4 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 2:00 PM EDT, 4 hours 22 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH, NC
200 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 2000

...LOOKS LIKE OUR BEST CHANCE FOR PCPN IN SEVERAL DAYS WILL ARRIVE
TONIGHT. KEEP YOU FINDERS CROSSED...

A STRONG S/W WILL PASS OVER THE STATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING AS
THE SURFACE FRONT MOVES IN ABOUT HALF WAY.  YET ANOTHER WAVE WILL
PASS OVER MONDAY. THIS ONE-TWO PUNCH SHOULD GIVE MANY COMMUNITIES AT
LEAST SOME RAIN.

THE CLOUD COVER WILL KEEP TEMPS MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE THAN THE PAST
FEW DAYS.

.RAH...NONE.

GL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson	29 min
May 20, 6:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Davidson, Forsyth	35 min
May 20, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Guilford	28 min
May 20, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Randolph	33 min
May 20, 7:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Alamance, Guilford	35 min
May 20, 7:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Orange	35 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.