Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS Charleston, WV

April 25, 19894 counties in West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1989, 3:24 PM EDT for 4 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 66 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Apr 25, 1989, 3:24 PM EDT (19:24 UTC)
Expired: Apr 25, 1989, 4:30 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

Counties Pleasants County, WV, Ritchie County, WV, Wirt County, WV, Wood County, WV

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Apr 25, 3:45 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Wood, WV
Apr 25, 3:45 PM EDT	Hail 1	Pleasants, WV
Apr 25, 3:55 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Wirt, WV

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 140 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -294 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1286 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

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 severe thunderstorm 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, Apr 25, 12:02 PM EDT, 3 hours 22 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Apr 25, 1:13 PM EDT, 2 hours 11 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV
115 PM EDT TUE APR 25 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A PORTION OF SOUTHERN
   WEST VIRGINIA FROM 115 PM UNTIL 600 PM...

COUNTIES IN THIS AREA INCLUDE...FAYETTE...GREENBRIER...MONROE..RALEIGH
...SUMMERS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP IN AND AROUND THIS AREA. PERSONS IN THIS AREA
SHOULD BE ON THEI LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN
FOR FURTHUR STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

Special weather statement, Apr 25, 2:08 PM EDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
200 PM EDT TUE APR 25 1989

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PART OF CENTRAL
WEST VIRGINIA UNTIL 600 PM EDT.  A WATCH MEANS THAT A POTENTIAL EXISTS
FOR SEVERE WEATHER.  WEST VIRGINIA COUNTIES IN THE WATCH AREA INCLUDE...

BRAXTON...CALHOUN...CLAY...FAYETTE...GILMER...GRANT...GREENBRIER...
JACKSON...KANAWHA...LEWIS...MONROE...NICHOLAS...PENDLETON...
POCAHONTAS...RALEIGH...RANDOLPH...ROANE...SUMMERS...UPSHUR...WEBSTER.

AT THIS TIME...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDS FROM NORTHWEST OF
LEWISBURG WV NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH ELKINS WV INTO THE WESTERN MARYLAND
PANHANDLE.  AT THE SOUTHWESTERN TIP OF THE LINE...NEAR RAINELLE WV...
RADAR INDICATES A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM.  MUCH OF THE LINE IS WEAKENING.

WEATHER ASSOCIATED WITH THE LINE INCLUDED NUMEROUS REPORTS OF HAIL...
GUSTY WIND...AND BRIEFLY HEAVY RAIN WITH LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS UP TO
ABOUT AN INCH.

ANOTHER AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDS ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN OHIO.
THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD EXTREME NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA.
THE WEATHER SERVICE IS KEEPING CLOSE WATCH ON THIS AREA.

LISTEN FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

END/PARKE

Special weather statement, Apr 25, 2:41 PM EDT, 43 minutes before

BULLETIN
SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY, WV
235 PM EDT TUE APR 25 1989

AT 130 PM BECKLEY RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER LEWISBURG
IN GREENBRIER COUNTY.  THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED 3/4 INCH HAIL AND
HIGH WINDS. THIS STORM WAS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 45 MILES AN
HOUR. THIS STORM WAS PART OF A LARGER AREA OF STORMS EXTENDING EAST
OF A LINE FROM ELKINS TO ROANOKE VIRGINIA. THE AREA WAS MOVING TO THE
EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

Local storm report, Apr 25, 2:44 PM EDT, 40 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
245 PM TUE APR 25 1988

SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS DURING EARLY AFTERNOON OF APRIL 25 1989...

A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED GUSTY WINDS...HAIL...AND BRIEFLY
HEAVY RAIN AS IT SWEPT THROUGH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA.  HERE IS A
LIST OF OFFICIAL REPORTS RECEIVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

1220 PM......WOOD COUNTY...SMALL HAIL AND 1.13 INCH RAIN.

1240 PM......RITCHIE COUNTY...LARGE LIMBS DOWN FROM THUNDERSTORM.
             POWER OUTAGES RESULTED.

1245 PM......CALHOUN COUNTY...DIME SIZED HAIL.

110 PM.......BRAXTON COUNTY...ONE INCH HAIL IN FRAMETOWN.

END/PARKE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 25, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Calhoun, Roane	56 min
Apr 25, 4:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Clay	69 min
Apr 25, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Gilmer, Ritchie	61 min
Apr 25, 5:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Greenbrier	48 min
Apr 25, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton	64 min
Apr 25, 6:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Webster	65 min
Apr 25, 6:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Pocahontas	69 min
Apr 25, 10:35 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Licking, Perry	40 min
Apr 25, 11:35 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Delaware	25 min
Apr 25, 12:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Licking	38 min
Apr 25, 1:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Licking	39 min
Apr 25, 2:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Muskingum	28 min
Apr 25, 2:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Perry	40 min
Apr 25, 3:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan	42 min
Apr 25, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette	50 min
Apr 25, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Ross	68 min
Apr 25, 7:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Ross	66 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1989 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.