Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 94, NWS Charleston, WV

December 31, 1989Mercer County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Dec 31, 1989, 5:17 PM EST for Mercer County, West Virginia. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 31, 1989, 5:17 PM EST (22:17 UTC)
Expired
Dec 31, 1989, 8:15 PM EST
In force
3 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 12:00Z, 10.3 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 12:00Z on 1989-12-31Temperature 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 1989-12-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 346 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
346 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
396 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 312221
FFWBKW
WVC055-010115-
 
 
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV
517 PM EST SUN DEC 31 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BECKLEY WV HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
          ...MERCER
 
AT 505 PM EST THE MEMCER COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORTED
FLOODING ALONG THE BLUESTONE RIVER BETWEEN SPANISHBURG AND LAKE
SHAWNEE. SIX ICE JAMS WERE CAUSING THE FLOODING ALONG THIS 10 MILE
STRETCH .
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD >BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 31, 3:05 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXMercer4 hr
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

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.