Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1991
Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Charleston, WV
NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 18, 1991, 8:42 PM EDT for Mercer County, West Virginia. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 18, 1991, 8:42 PM EDT (00:42 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1991, 11:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Charleston, WV
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mercer County, WV
The nearest sounding before it
Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 604 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -32 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 792 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 20 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBKW 190044 FFWBKW WVC055-190345- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV 842 PM EDT SAT MAY 18 1991 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BECKLEY WV HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...... IN SOUTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA ...MERCER COUNTY AT 840 PM POLICE REPORTS INDICATED THAT THE EAST RIVER WAS OVERFLOWING IT'S BANKS AT OAKVALE. THREE FEET OF WATER WAS COVERING PORTIONS OF ROUTE 112 AND EXIT 5 OF INTERSTATE 77 WAS CLOSED. OFFICIALS WERE BEGINNING TO EVACUATE PERSONS IN PORTIONS OF INGLESIDE. MINOR FLOODING WAS ALSO REPORTED IN KELLEYSVILLE AND BLUEWELL. 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. END/WJM
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, May 18, 6:54 PM EDT, 1 hour 48 minutes before
WVZ006>008-012-190000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BECKLEY WV 655 PM EDT SAT MAY 18 1991 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH THE TWO VIRGINIAS... AT 645 PM THIS EVENING WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT BECKLEY SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...MOVING THROUGH MCDOWELL AND MERCER COUNTIES IN WEST VIRGINIA AND MOVING THROUGH BUCHANON... BLAND...AND GILES COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA. THE STRONGEST STORM WAS 5 MILES EAST OF TAZEWELL VIRGINIA. OTHER STRONG STORMS WERE 5 MILES SOUTH OF KEYSTONE...5 MILES SOUTH OF PRINCETON...10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF IAEGER IN WEST VIRGINIA...AND OVER NARROWS VIRGINIA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE PART OF A LARGER AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COVERING A SMALL PORTION OF SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA BUT COVERING MUCH OF WESTERN AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. ALL PRECIPITATION WAS MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS...SMALL HAIL...AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS AS THEY CONTINUE TO MOVE THROUGH THE TWO VIRGINIAS THIS EVENING. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES SEEK A SAFE INDOOR SHELTER AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM PASSES. MOTORISTS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS AS WELL AS REDUCED VISIBILITY DURING THESE STORMS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION. END/WJM
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 1991Every flash flood warning in 1991
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.