Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2018
Tornado Watch 377
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 15, 2018, 4:38 PM EDT for 10 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 15, 2018, 4:38 PM EDT (20:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 15, 2018, 11:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Hoke County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Pender County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC
The radar
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:39 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 SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 30%
Warnings issued inside it
10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 6:01 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover, Pender | 14 min |
| Sep 15, 7:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover, Pender | 33 min |
| Sep 15, 8:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover | 9 min |
| Sep 15, 8:28 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover | 17 min |
| Sep 15, 8:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover | 12 min |
| Sep 15, 9:23 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | New Hanover, Pender | 22 min |
| Sep 15, 9:49 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Pender | 11 min |
| Sep 15, 9:55 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILM | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson | 8 hr |
| Sep 15, 10:27 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Pender | 18 min |
| Sep 15, 10:31 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Pender | 14 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 146 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 711 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 721 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 192 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 172 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
The text
As transmitted.
263 WWUS20 KWNS 152034 SEL7 SPC WW 152034 NCZ000-CWZ000-160300- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED Tornado Watch Number 377 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 435 PM EDT Sat Sep 15 2018 The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a * Tornado Watch for portions of Southeastern North Carolina Coastal Waters * Effective this Saturday afternoon and evening from 435 PM until 1100 PM EDT. * Primary threats include... A couple tornadoes possible Isolated damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible SUMMARY...Bands of convection pivoting inland across coastal areas into southeastern North Carolina, on the outer periphery of Florence, may continue to pose a risk for a couple of tornadoes, as well as potentially damaging surface gusts, through this evening. The tornado watch area is approximately along and 35 statute miles either side of a line from 15 miles west of Fayetteville NC to 45 miles south southeast of Wilmington NC. For a complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 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 376. Watch number 376 will not be in effect after 435 PM EDT. AVIATION...Tornadoes and a few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to 0.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 300. Mean storm motion vector 14035. ...Kerr
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 14, 8:01 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Cumberland, Dare, Duplin and 18 more | 119 min |
| Sep 14, 10:25 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland and 11 more | 95 min |
| Sep 14, 11:03 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland and 12 more | 8 hr |
| Sep 15, 2:59 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland and 12 more | 91 min |
| Sep 15, 6:15 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven and 16 more | 90 min |
| Sep 15, 6:59 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Greene and 14 more | 10 hr |
| Sep 15, 12:01 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin and 9 more | 119 min |
| Sep 15, 3:26 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Pender | 64 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2018Every tornado watch in 2018
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.