March 28 1984 Carolinas Tornado Outbreak

On March 28, 1984 at 150 pm EST, a thunderstorm developed in Randolph county in eastern Alabama, or about 60 miles west-southwest of Atlanta. This parent thunderstorm, despite taking on different sizes, shapes and dimensions, was the same convective system that weakened around 1030 pm along the eastern seaboard after killing 36 people in North Carolina and 13 people in South Carolina. This storm became a tornado producer between Athens and Atlanta and a prolific tornado producer around 5 pm in western SC, and continued producing tornadoes one after another through eastern North Carolina until 1030 pm. The last person claimed by this storm was in Perquimans county, NC--southwest of Elizabeth City. Very large hail occurred with the storm. including tennis ball sized hail south of Elberton, GA and baseball size in northern SC. Large hail also occurred in North Carolina but the focus was on the tornadoes and not on documenting hail. It is very rare indeed for a parent storm to survive over 8 hours and 550 miles. The average forward speed of the convective system from birth to death was an amazing 65 mph!! Another storm that was initially part of the original convective system became its own entity in southwest North Carolina and produced a series of strong tornadoes in northeast North Carolina. Nine people were killed by this storm. It is wise not to get hung up on the number of tornadoes that occur in a given outbreak. It is the intensity, path length, and path width that are important. For example, a single tornado that is 1/2 mile wide and on the ground doing F4 damage for 50 miles is far more capable of being lethal than a family of 20 tornadoes (mostly rated F0, F1 or F2 with perhaps 1 brief F4) that skip across the same 50 mile stretch.

I am developing detailed paths of the tornadoes and hail occurrences in Google Maps. I also plan to use Google Earth since Google maps had limited icons and features. To accomplish this, I used the original storm data and newspaper accounts as well as the old NWS assessment. However, I also made phone calls to the affected areas and refined the paths. People that were in the path of this monster storm tend to remember it. I called a man that was mentioned in a newspaper article from Elberton, GA. His wife answered the phone and said her husband was deceased. However, as soon as I mentioned a storm in 1984, she instantly told me that she would never forget that storm. She told me that she remembered the tennis ball sized hail and apparent tornado damage. Also, the times given for several of the tornadoes were not accurate. I was able to find clock stopage times at several locations to help pinpoint the timeline. Then I was able to calculate the speed of the tornadic storm. To view storm details, just use the +/- bar on the left side of google maps, then click on the blue pushpins to see the details.

Forward Motion of Primary Tornadic Storm

The following were clock stoppage times for locations along the path of the primary tornadic storm:

Newberry - Electric clock in the public library on main street stopped at 515 pm
Bennettsville - The clock in the Food Lion stopped at 702 pm
Red Springs - A clock stopped at 728 pm
Pactolus - A clock in the Whitehurst home stopped at 925 pm

The folliwing are approximate times of the tornado passage:

Poplar Grove - Tornado occurred about 822 pm
Salemburg - Power went out at the Danny McDowell home at 807 pm
Beaver Creek SC - 559 pm

The above information yields a fairly steady storm motion of 65 mph!!

Newspaper Articles and Pictures

Damage Video

Here is video of the tornado aftermath at Red Springs, NC.

Satellite Loops

Satellite loops were created using images from the CLASS website. Dan Bikos of CIRA (Cooperative Institute for Research of the Atmosphere) in Fort Collins, CO provided help in capturing these images. I made this loops using the "convert" command in AWIPS. The visible loop shows the progression of the primary storm cluster from birth to just before dark. The infrared loops show the entire life cycle of the storms.

Radar Data/Loops

Meteorological Discussion

Synoptic Overview

On March 27 to March 28 1984, a very intense and progressive shortwave trough and associated jet streak migrated from the southern Rockies into the southeast United States to the eastern seabord. The circulation around the surface cyclone covered the eastern 1/2 or 2/3 of the continental United States. A sub-synoptic surface low pressure center raced east-northeast across the deep south and into the southern Mid-Atlantic region during the afternoon and evening of the 28th. The flow at all levels was very strong, leading to very fast storm motion. A thunderstorm developed in eastern Alabama near the surface low around 150 pm. The primary supercell storm stayed immediately ahead of the subsynoptic low and raced east-northeast at 65 mph through 1030 pm. Loops of the 500mb and 300mb charts demonstrate how this system progressed across the country.


    March 26

On the evening of March 26, a large upper trough was centered over the high plains and eastern Rockies. A very strong 500mb jet was positioned along the back side of the trough, indicating the trough was still digging. This is even more evident on the 300 mb chart that showed 120-140+ kt jet winds from the pacific northwest into western NV. A surface front extended from just south of Tampa, Florida to the Texas Gulf coast. Dewpoints along and south of this boundary were near 70F as evidenced by the observations at Brownsville and Miami. So rich moisture was only a few hundred miles away from north GA. Sea level pressures were down to around 996 mb in the lee of the southern and central Rockies.

    March 27

By 12 UTC March 27, a strong shortwave trough was located over the southern Rockies with 110 kt 500mb winds at Las Vegas and 100 kt winds at Tuscon and El Paso. The upper trough still had a slight positive tilt. 300mb windspeeds near the core of the jet were around 120 to 125 kts at Ely and Tonopah, NV. Jet winds were also fairly strong from central and south TX into the Carolinas (90 to 110kts). Rich gulf moisture was advancing northward to the Gulf Coast. The surface dewpoints at Boothville in southeast Louisana and Tampa, FL were up to 68F and 71F respectively.

By the evening of March 27, a neutrally tilted 500 mb trough was located over West Texas. 500 mb winds were not sampled very well in central TX, but were likely around 100kts. The 300mb jet core now extended from El Paso to southern MS, with 120 to 140kt winds. 700mb winds were 50kts or greater from the Texas Big Bend to southern GA. The 21 UTC surface chart (to be completed) shows rich moisture from the panhandle of Florida to central LA and southern MS to the south of a warm front, with dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s F. Surface pressures were down to around 988 mb in north TX. A surface dryline extended from just east of Brownsville, TX northward along the Gulf Coast. In fact, the temperature at Brownsville was a staggering 106F with a dewpoint of 42F!! Severe storms including very large hail and tornadoes occurred during the afternoon in north Texas, with the most severe storm occurring northwest, north and northeast of the Dallas Metroplex. This severe weather occurred outside of the classic warm sector (north of the surface low), where colder 500mb temperatures existed and where 58-60F surface dewpoints resided.

    Evening of March 27