Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Blacksburg, VA

April 1, 1990Bedford County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 1, 1990, 6:33 PM EDT for Bedford County, Virginia. It was in force for 57 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 1, 1990, 6:33 PM EDT (22:33 UTC)
Expired
Apr 1, 1990, 7:30 PM EDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Bedford 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, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 141 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1990-04-01Temperature 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1990-04-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -42 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
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
32 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 012234 RRA
SVRROA
VAC019-012330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
633 PM EDT SUN APR 1 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ROANOKE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA
          ...SOUTHEASTERN BEDFORD NORTHEAST PITTSYLVANIA COUNTIES
 
RADAR SHOWS A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHEAST BEDFORD AND NORTHWEST
PITTSYLVANIA COUNTIES. RADAR REPORTS HAIL IN THE THUNDERSTORM. THE
THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 40 MPH.
 
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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 1, 6:07 PM EDT, 26 minutes before
VAZALL-012300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
600 PM EDT SUN APR 1 1990

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED IN PORTIONS
OF SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA.

AT 600 PM EDT RADAR SHOWS SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHERN
FRANKLIN AND SOUTHERN BEDFORD COUNTIES. ALSO RADAR SHOWS A
STRONG ONE IN HENRY COUNTY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD
THE EAST AT ABOUT 40 MPH. THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE
STRONG GUSTY WINDS DANGEROUS LIGHTNING HEAVY DOUNPOURS AND
POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL.

THUNDERSTORMS COULD KEEP DEVELOPING DURING THE EVENING BUT SHOULD
TAPER OFF LATER AT NIGHT.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1990Every 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.