Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS Charleston, WV

May 5, 1989Summers County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 5, 1989, 6:19 PM EDT for Summers County, West Virginia. It was in force for 116 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 5, 1989, 6:19 PM EDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1989, 8:15 PM EDT
In force
116 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Summers 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 164 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 052219
FFWBKW
WVC089-060015-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A URBAN AND SMALL 
STREAM FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN 
THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
      SUMMERS

AT 615 PM EDT THE SUMMERS COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS REPORTED
SMALL STREAMS OVER FLOWING THEIR BANKS IN THE COUNTY.
NUMEROUS ROCK AND MUD SLIDES WERE ALSO REPORTED.

RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW RAIN COVERING SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS ROADWAYS.
VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED IMMEDIATELY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOOD WATERS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...
ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLwOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

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, 2 hours 20 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...
Special weather statement, May 5, 5:24 PM EDT, 55 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTINGTON WEST VIRGINIA
525 PM EDT FRI MAY 05 1989

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

A 30 MILE WIDE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM JUST NORTHEAST OF
SPRINGFIELD OHIO TO FORT KNOX IN KENTUCKY AT 520 PM EDT.  THE AREA WAS
MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL BE MOVING INTO THE
HUNTINGTON TRI STATE AREA BY 7 PM.

DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...HEAVY RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY
THESE THUNDERSTORMS.  A FEW OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE
HAIL AS THEY MOVE THROUGH THE AREA.

CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR
TELEVISION STATION FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION COUNCERNING THESE
THUNDERSTORMS.

YOUNG...
Special weather statement, May 5, 5:50 PM EDT, 29 minutes before
BULLETIN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY, WV
550 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989

...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHERN WEST VIRGNIA UNTIL
MIDNIGHT FOR SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...

THIS INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF BOONE...FAYETTE...GREENBRIER...LOGAN...
MCDOWELL...MERCER...MINGO...MONROE...NICHOLAS...POCAHONTAS...RALEIGH...
SUMMERS...WEBSTER...AND WYOMING COUNTIES IN SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA.

AN URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR RALIEGH
COUNTY UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING.  WATER WAS REPORTED FLOWING OUT OF
ITS BANKS ALONG THE CREEK AT DANIELS AND BASEMENT FLOODING HAS BEEN
REPORTED IN THE BECKLEY AREA.

STREAMS ACROSS SOUTHERN ARE ALREADY HIGH FROM PREVIOUS RAIN AND FROM
RAIN LAST NIGHT AND TODAY.  ADDITIONAL RAIN MAY PRODUCE SMALL STREAM
FLOODING IN MANY AREAS.
RAINFALL OVER SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA HAS BEEN GENERALLY FROM
THREE-QUARTERS/.75/ TO ONE AND ONE-ONE QUARTER INCHES/1.25/ IN THE
PAST 6 HOURS.

MOTORISTS SHOULD BE PARTICULARLY CAUTIOUS AND NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS
ROADWAYS COVERED WITH FAST MOVING WATERS OR WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH.
PERSONS NEAR AREAS THAT ARE PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE ON THE ALERT
FOR FAST_ RISING WATERS AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOODING IS
OBSERVED OR A WARNING IS ISSUED.

END/CGF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 5:04 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXRaleigh116 min
May 5, 5:21 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXPocahontas3 hr
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.