Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 16, NWS Charleston, WV

May 5, 1989Raleigh County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 5, 1989, 5:04 PM EDT for Raleigh County, West Virginia. It was in force for 116 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 5, 1989, 5:04 PM EDT (21:04 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1989, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
116 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Raleigh 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, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 128 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 12:00Z on 1989-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 12:00Z on 1989-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 69 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 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 
TTAA00 KBKW 052106 RRA
FFWBKW
WVC081-052300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV
504 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A URBAN AND SMALL
STREAM FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN
THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
      RALEIGH

AT 455 PM EDT THE RALEIGH COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER
REPORTED SMALL STREAM FLOODING IN THE VICINITY OF DANIELS IN
RALEIGH COUNTY.

RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN COVERING SOUTHERN
WEST VIRGINIA.
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS ROADWAYS.
VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOUL:D BE ABANDONED IMMEDIATELY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

FUNDERBURK

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 5, 3:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTINGTON WEST VIRGINIA
355 PM EDT FRI MAY 05 1989

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH OHIO AND KENTUCKY...

AT 345 PM EDT...A 30 MILE WIDE LINE OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED THROUGH DAYTON AND CINCINNATI OHIO...SOUTHWEST
THROUGH LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MILES
AN HOUR AND WILL BE MOVING INTO THE HUNTINGTON TRI STATE AREA BY 7 PM.

DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS ARE
POSSIBLE WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.  CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATION FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON
THIS DEVELOPING SITUATION.

YOUNG...

The office that day

Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 5:21 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXPocahontas3 hr
May 5, 6:19 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXSummers116 min
May 5, 7:08 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXRaleigh67 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 1989Every flash flood warning in 1989

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.