Alert archive / North Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 23, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 12, 2001Johnston County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 12, 2001, 4:32 PM EDT for Johnston County, North Carolina. It was in force for 28 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: May 12, 2001, 4:32 PM EDT (20:32 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 2001, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Johnston County, NC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 12, 4:55 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Smithfield, NC	Trees and powerlines were blown down.

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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 23 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -119 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1362 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 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.

000 
WUUS52 KRAH 122034
SVRRAH

NCC101-122100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
432 PM EDT SAT MAY 12 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 500 PM EDT

* AT 432 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SMITHFIELD...MOVING
  EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
   FOUR OAKS AT 445 PM EDT
   SMITHFIELD AT 455 PM EDT

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG
BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...HEAVY RAIN AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY
FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 12, 3:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 12, 3:15 PM EDT, 1 hour 17 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
315 PM EDT SAT MAY 12 2001

.SHORT-TERM...SCT SHWRS/TSTMS IN UNSTABLE AIR AHEAD NEAR LEE TROF WIND SHIFT
LINE ARE MVG EASTWARD. POTENTIAL FOR SMALL HAIL. HIGHEST VILS THUS FAR TO 40.
ONLY ONE REPORT OF VERY SMALL HAIL. BEST UNSTABLE AIR IS IN EASTERN CWA EAST OF
RDU. STORMS MAY INTENSIFY THROUGH THE EASTERN CWA. SLIGHT CHC POPS LEFT IN WRN
CWA FOR EARLY THIS EVE AND CHC POPS FOR THE EVE IN ERN CWA.

COOLER AND DRIER AIR BUILDS INTO AREA OVERNIGHT. NW FLOW ALOFT AGAIN DOMINATES
AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE IN OHIO VLY SLOWLY MOVES EASTWARD. TRANQUIL WEATHER
SUN THROUGH MON WITH COOLEST TEMPS EXPECTED EARLY MON MORNING.
1
.LONG-TERM...NEXT CHC OF RAIN IS IN THE EXTENDED FOR TUES WHEN AS ANOTHER
SURFACE COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST.

.RAH...NONE.

KK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 3:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Granville, Wake	33 min
May 12, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	25 min
May 12, 4:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wake	36 min
May 12, 4:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Franklin, Nash	35 min
May 12, 4:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland, Sampson	31 min
May 12, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Johnston, Wayne	33 min
May 12, 5:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Edgecombe, Halifax	24 min
May 12, 5:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	19 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Carolina, 2001 Every 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.