Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 31, NWS Blacksburg, VA

June 8, 1990Botetourt County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 8, 1990, 10:15 AM EDT for Botetourt County, Virginia. It was in force for 45 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jun 8, 1990, 10:15 AM EDT (14:15 UTC)
Expired: Jun 8, 1990, 11:00 AM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Botetourt County, VA

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 12:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 164 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 31 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 KROA 081418
SVRROA
VAC023-081500-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
1015 AM EDT FRI JUN 8 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ROANOKE VAHAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...BOTETOURT COUNTY
 
AT 1010 AM EDT WEATHER RADAR SHOWS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER EASTERN
CRAIG COUNTY IN THE VICINITY OF NEWCASTLE. THIS STORM IS MOVING
RAPIDLY EAST AT ABOUT 40 MPH AND SHOULD BE CROSSING INTO BOTETOURT
COUNTY WITHIN MINUTES. ITS PATH SHOULD TAKE IT ACROSS 220 HIGHWAY IN
THE VICINITY...OR JUST NORTH OF...FINCASTLE. AFTER THAT...THE TOWN OF
BUCHANAN OR INTERSTATE 81 SOUTH OF BUCHANAN IS THE PROJECTED PATH.
 
THIS STORM DROPPED SOME 3/4 INCH HAIL AND GAVE MINOR ROAD FLOODING
IN CRAIG COUNTY IN ITS PASSAGE.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HxAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
END/MCINTOSH

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, Jun 8, 9:28 AM EDT, 47 minutes before

VA013-016-081500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
930 AM   EDT  FRI JUN 8  1990

...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA..

AT 9 AM EDT RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IN MERCER COUNTY
WEST VIRGINIA. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH AND EXPECTED
TO MOVE INTO THE COUNTIES OF NORTHERN GILES AND EASTERN CRAIG WITHIN
THE HOUR.

PEOPLE IN THESE COUNTIES SHOULD BE ALERT FOR SOME STRONG GUSTY WINDS
HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.
CG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 8, 9:42 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Craig	63 min
Jun 8, 3:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

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.