Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Charleston, WV
NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 1988, 5:00 PM EDT for Lewis County, Upshur County, West Virginia. It was in force for 60 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 23, 1988, 5:00 PM EDT (21:00 UTC)
- Expired
- May 23, 1988, 6:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Charleston, WV
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Lewis County, WV, Upshur County, WV
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
The nearest sounding before it
Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 196 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- NaN m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 38 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 29 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 23, 4:13 PM EDT, 47 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, ELKINS WV 4:15 EDT MON MAY 23 1988 AT 4:10 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWS STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS..DANGEROUS LIGHTING.. POSSIBLE HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES OR A WARNING IS ISSUED TAKE SHELTER DON'T BE CAUGHT OUTSIDE IN A THUNDERSTORM. LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST FOR FURTHER STATkEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. END/ALP
Special weather statement, May 23, 4:58 PM EDT, 2 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV 500 PM EDT MON MAY 23 1988 THE WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT 455 PM SHOWED HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH SOUTHWEST AND WESTERN COUNTIES OF WEST VIRGINIA. HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE NEAR WILLIAMSON IN MINGO COUNTY...OVER NORTHERN LOGAN COUNTY AND NEAR GRUNDY AND DWIGHT VIRGINIA IN BUCHANAN COUNTY. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 35 MILES AN HOUR. THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN...CAUSING SOME SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOODING. ALSO HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE. PERSONS SHOULD SEEK SAFE INDOOR SHELTER AS THIS THUNDERSTORM MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. END/FUNDERBURK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 3:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Kanawha, Roane | 64 min |
| May 23, 3:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Clay | 54 min |
| May 23, 4:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Braxton | 67 min |
| May 23, 6:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Clay, Kanawha, Roane | 27 min |
| May 23, 5:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Pickaway | 27 min |
| May 23, 3:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Allegany | 2 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988
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.