Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989
Flash Flood Warning 20, NWS Charleston, WV
NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 5, 1989, 11:01 PM EDT for McDowell County, West Virginia. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 1989, 11:01 PM EDT (03:01 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 1989, 2:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Charleston, WV
- Area
- Whole counties
County McDowell 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
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 213 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
- 608 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 607 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 60 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 439 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 552 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 7.8
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 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, 5:24 PM EDT, 5 hours 37 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, 5 hours 11 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
Special weather statement, May 5, 6:33 PM EDT, 4 hours 28 minutes before
BULLETIN SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY, WV 630 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989 ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF SOUTHERN WEST VIRGNIA UNTIL MIDNIGHT... URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR RALIEGH COUNTY UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING AND SUMMERS COUNTY UNTIL 815 PM. NUMEROUS CREEKS HAVE BEEN REPORTED OVERFLOWING THEIR BANKS IN RALEIGH AND SUMMERS COUNTIES. ROCK AND MUD SLIDES HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED IN SUMMERS COUNTY. RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL OVER ALL OF SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND ADDITIONAL RAIN MAY PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING IN MANY AREAS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. 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
Special weather statement, May 5, 7:50 PM EDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
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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.