Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 90, NWS Charleston, WV

December 31, 1989Mercer County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Dec 31, 1989, 3:05 AM EST for Mercer County, West Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 31, 1989, 3:05 AM EST (08:05 UTC)
Expired
Dec 31, 1989, 7:00 AM EST
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Mercer 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 00:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 162 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 00:00Z on 1989-12-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1989-12-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 213 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
171 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 310811
FFWBKW
WVC055-311200-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV
305 AM EST SUN DEC 31 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BECKLEY WV HAS ISSUED A
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
          ...MERCER
 
AT 250 AM EST THE OES AT OAK VALE IN MERCER COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
REPORTED AN ICE JAM ON THE EAST RIVER NEAR OAK VALE. SOME HOMES WERE
STARTING TO FLOOD ABOVE THE ICE JAM. HE ALSO SAID THAT PERSONS BELOW
THE JAM WOULD BE ADVISED OF THIS PROBLAM.
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
BRAMBLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 31, 5:20 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXKanawha4 hr
Dec 31, 8:13 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXWyoming4 hr
Dec 31, 9:30 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXLewis3 hr
Dec 31, 5:17 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXMercer3 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.