Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 63, NWS Charleston, WV

August 21, 1989Pocahontas County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Aug 21, 1989, 9:15 AM EDT for Pocahontas County, West Virginia. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 21, 1989, 9:15 AM EDT (13:15 UTC)
Expired
Aug 21, 1989, 10:15 AM EDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Pocahontas 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, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 217 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 1989-08-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 480 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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 1989-08-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 150 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
480 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
684 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
150 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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, Aug 21, 7:06 AM EDT, 2 hours 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE-ELKINS, WV
705 AM EDT MON AUG 21 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINS MOVING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL
WEST VIRGINIA...

WEATHER RADAR AT 655 AM EDT INDICATED A SMALL AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS
WITH HEAVY RAINS MOVING ACROSS DODDRIDGE COUNTY AND INTO HARRISON
COUNTY OF NORTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA. THESE STORMS ARE PUSHING EAST
NORTH EAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH.

MOTORIST SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION AND WATCH FOR PONDING OF WATER IN
LOW LYING AREAS ON THE HIGHWAYS. REDUCED VISIBILITIES WILL OCCUR IN
THE HEAVY RAINS.

OVER AN INCH AND A HALF (1.66) OF RAIN HAS FELL ACROSS WESTERN
TUCKER COUNTY DURING THE LAST 6 HOURS. MORE HEAVY RAINS ARE POSSIBLE
OVER THIS AREA BEFORE NOON. THIS MAY CAUSE SOME SHARP RISES ON THE
SMALLER STREAMS IN THIS AREA.

END/PMG
Special weather statement, Aug 21, 8:46 AM EDT, 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE-ELKINS, WV
840 AM EDT MON AUG 21 1989

...HEAVY RAINS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF WEST
VIRGINIA...

RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1.5 TO 2.5 INCHES HAVE BEEN REPORTED ACROSS
SOUTHERN RANDOLPH AND NORTHERN POCAHONTAS COUNTIES OF NORTHERN WEST
VIRGINIA. MONTERVILLE IN SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY REPORTED 2.16
INCHES IN THE LAST 3 HOURS. AT SNOWSHOWE 1.58 INCHES HAVE BEEN
REPORTED AND CHEAT BRIDGE 1.55. MINGO ALSO IN SOUTHERN RANDOLPH
COUNTY RECEIVED 2.5 INCHES.

SMALL STREAMS ARE REPORTED RUNNING HIGH. NO FLOODING PROBLEMS HAVE
BEEN INDICATED...HOWEVER WATER WILL COLLECT IN LOW LYING AREAS AND
SOME SMALL STREAMS MAY REACH BANKFULL. RADAR SHOWS THAT SHOWERS AND
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE SLOWLY MOVING OUT OF THESE AREAS. MORE
RAIN COULD MOVE BACK OVER SOUTHERN RANDOLPH AND NORTHERN POCAHONTAS
COUNTY THIS MORNING...THIS COULD PUSH SMALLER STREAMS OUT OF THEIR
BANKS. KEEP A WrATCH ON STREAM LEVELS AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF
WATER LEVELS START RISING RAPIDLY.

CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

END/PMG
Special weather statement, Aug 21, 8:58 AM EDT, 17 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE-ELKINS, WV
855 AM EDT MON AUG 21 1989

...HEAVY RAINS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF WEST
VIRGINIA...

RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1.5 TO 2.5 INCHES HAVE BEEN REPORTED ACROSS
SOUTHERN RANDOLPH AND NORTHERN POCAHONTAS COUNTIES OF NORTHERN WEST
VIRGINIA. MONTERVILLE IN SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY REPORTED 2.16
INCHES IN THE LAST 3 HOURS. SNOWSHOE REPORTS 1.58 INCHES AND CHEAT
BRIDGE 1.55. MINGO...ALSO IN SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY...RECEIVED 2.5
INCHES.

SMALL STREAMS ARE REPORTED RUNNING HIGH. NO FLOODING PROBLEMS HAVE
BEEN INDICATED...HOWEVER WATER WILL COLLECT IN LOW LYING AREAS AND
SOME SMALL STREAMS MAY REACH BANKFULL. RADAR SHOWS THAT SHOWERS AND
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE SLOWLY MOVING OUT OF THESE AREAS. MORE
RAIN COULD MOVE BACK OVER SOUTHERN RANDOLPH AND NORTHERN POCAHONTAS
COUNTY THIS MORNING...THIS COULD PUSH SMALLER STREAMS OUT OF THEIR
BANKS. KEEP A WATCH ON STREAM LEVELS AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF
WATER LEVELS START RISING RAPIDLY.

CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR COMMERCIAL BROADCAST FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

END/PMG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 21, 10:30 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXNicholas, Webster3 hr
Aug 21, 4:23 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXRandolph, Tucker4 hr

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.