Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

August 20, 2001Pitt County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 2001, 7:00 PM EDT for Pitt County, North Carolina. It was in force for 45 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
Aug 20, 2001, 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired
Aug 20, 2001, 7:45 PM EDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Pitt County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 20, 7:20 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 61 EAyden, NCSevere thunderstorm winds estimated around 70 mph destroyed two mobile homes in Ayden.

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 nearest sounding before it

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 101 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2001-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1572 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Newport, NC at 12:00Z on 2001-08-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 0 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1572 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
655 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-26 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.

463 
WUUS52 KMHX 202301
SVRMHX
NCC147-202345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT-MOREHEAD CITY NC
700 PM EDT MON AUG 20 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  PITT COUNTY IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 745 PM EDT

* AT 659 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER RENSTON...OR ABOUT 10 MILES EAST OF SNOW
  HILL...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
   WINTERVILLE AT 710 PM EDT.
   AYDEN AT 720 PM EDT.
   SIMPSON AT 725 PM EDT.

THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...STRONG DAMAGING WINDS...AND VERY
HEAVY RAIN. TAKE COVER IN A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM
PASSES.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

$$

LAT...LON 3550 7762 3537 7747 3562 7713 3578 7732

12

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 Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 20, 2:00 PM EDT, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 2:00 PM EDT, 5 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
200 PM EDT MON AUG 20 2001

HEATING ALONG WITH A LITTLE UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT HAS KEPT SHRA/TSTM
ACTIVITY GOING ALONG THE COAST. THIS H5 VORT MOVES OFFSHORE BY THIS
EVENING AS YET ANOTHER APPROACHES THE CRYSTAL COAST FROM THE SOUTH.
THIS COMBINED WITH A COLD FRONT THAT WILL PUSH INTO THE CENTRAL PART
OF THE STATE WILL KEEP SCT SHRA/TSTMS ALONG THE COAST THRU TNT. THIS
FRONT BEGINS TO REACH THE COAST TUE AM WHERE IT WILL BECMG NEARLY
STATIONARY. WILL UP THE POPS JUST A LITTLE TNGT FOR COASTAL AREAS. ETA
MEAN RH SUGGESTS THAT SCATTERED SHRA/TSTMS WILL CONT TUE...
ESPECIALLY NEAR AND ALONG THE COAST INTO TUE AM. THE FRONT MOVES
OFFSHORE LATE TUE AFTN/EVENING AS A SFC HIGH PUSHES IN FROM THE W.

WEDNESDAY...LOOKS TO BE DRY WITH STRONG SUBSIDENCE AND A SFC HIGH
OVER THE STATE. TEMPS WILL CONT NEAR NORMAL WITH HIGHS IN THE MID TO
UPPER 80. ETA SUGGESTS LOWS WED MORNING IN THE LOW TO MID 60S. THIS
IS LIKELY TOO COLD...BUT WILL SHAVE OFF A DEGREE OR 2 IN CURRENT
FCST.

IN THE EXTENDED...ANOTHER FRONT MOVES INTO THE REGION THU INTO THU
NIGHT BRINGING ANOTHER CHC FOR SHRA/TSTMS. THIS FRONT LOOKS AS THOUGH
IT WILL STALL ALONG THE COAST OR JUST OFFSHORE AND REMAIN IN THE
AREA INTO THE WEEKEND. THIS COULD KEEP SCT SHRA/TSTMS AROUND THE
COASTAL REGION THRU THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK.

MARINE FCST...SW 15-20 KT AHEAD OF FRONT BUT WINDS SHOULD DROP OFF
BY MORNING TO 10-15 KT. FRONT HANGS UP OVER COASTAL WATERS AND
MOST LIKELY WILL BE LIGHT AND VARIABLE TOMORROW NIGHT INTO WED. IN
CONVECTION THERE WILL BE WINDS SCA CRITERIA AND WILL COVER THAT WITH
WINDS AND SEAS HIGHER NEAR TSTMS.

.MHX...NONE.

ORROCK/SHAFFER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 20, 5:51 PM EDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before
NCZ029-044-045-079-202330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT-MOREHEAD CITY NC
551 PM EDT MON AUG 20 2001

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ONTO THE COASTAL PLAIN...

A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS...CONTAINING HEAVY DOWNPOURS...AND FREQUENT
DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL MOVE ACROSS GREENE...PITT...AND
MARTIN COUNTIES. WHEN YOU HEAR THUNDER MOVE INSIDE TO AVOID GETTING
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO CONTAIN BRIEF
HEAVY DOWNPOURS IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH AN HOUR AND GUSTY WINDS TO 45
MILES AN HOUR.

WS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 20, 7:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXLenoir29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2001Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.