Saturday may have started out with nice weather but some nasty weather blew through the area between 6-9pm. And we had a feeling it was coming because we had all the ingredients we needed for severe weather: warm air, moisture, instability, strong wind shear and a strong upper level low moving through. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK, saw that the stage was set too and therefore put the area under a Moderate Risk of severe weather (This is the middle of the scale). As the storm system moved across the Southeast, it produced large hail, strong damaging winds and tornadoes.

At around 4:30pm, the local National Weather Service along with the Storm Prediction Center put all of Southeastern North Carolina under a Tornado Watch until 1am. They all knew this system had the potential to bring severe weather to us too. Right around, 6:15pm a Tornado Warning was issued for Northern Columbus County. This was a storm that had the history of producing golfball size hail in Robeson County and was possibly tornadic. The warning was in effect through 7pm. I was on the air informing residents in the line of fire of the threats with this storm. I know it can be redundant, but my job is to inform the public of the dangerous weather situation. The storm then started to affect Southern Bladen County, so a Tornado Warning was issued there as well. As the storm maintained its strength, it moved over Southeastern Columbus County. Now, just a side note...The National Weather Service issues a tornado warning when there is a tornado reported by a trained NWS weather spotter or if there is one indicated on their Dopper Radar. These warnings were all issued because the radar signature indicated a tornado. Around 7pm, Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued for Sampson, Brunswick, New Hanover, and Pender counties as a line of severe storms rolled through. These storms had the potential to produce quarter size hail and winds over 58 mph. The warnings remained in effect until 8pm. Around 7:35, a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Duplin county as well. Onslow County was finally put under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning around 8pm. So, at least all of the counties in our viewing area were under a warning at some point last night. And the National Weather Service did a good job issuing the warnings. And if you have a NOAA weather radio, you were alerted of those warnings the second they were issued. And WWAY was here with team coverage giving you the latest information...and we did it to keep you, the viewer, safe.

In case, you were wondering about all the storm damage.
(http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080315_rpts.html)

It's amazing how much damage one storm system can cause. There were 270 storm reports. 38 were tornado reports, 73 were wind reports (over 58 mph) and 159 were reporting hail over the size of a penny. And 10 of those storm reports were from the WWAY viewing area.

And just for the record, there was an EF1 tornado confirmed in Pender County. Here is the report from the local National Weather Service.
(http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ilm/pendercountystormsurvey.txt) The Fair Bluff Fire Department in Columbus County spotted a possible tornado, but the National Weather Service has not confirmed this yet.

The bottom line is to remember that severe weather is not to be taken lightly! And if you don't have a NOAA Weather Radio, go buy one ASAP! They could prevent injury or possibly save your life!