Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Charleston, WV

May 18, 1995Mingo County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1995, 9:45 PM EDT for Mingo County, West Virginia. It was in force for 30 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 18, 1995, 9:45 PM EDT (01:45 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 1995, 10:15 PM EDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Mingo County, WV

The nearest sounding before it

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 78 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 00:00Z on 1995-05-19Temperature 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 00:00Z on 1995-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 225 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1240 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
225 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
361 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 190146
TORCRW
WVC059-190215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
945 PM EDT THU MAY 18 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...MINGO COUNTY
 
AT 945 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO SOUTHEAST OF
KERMIT. THIS STORM WAS MOVING TOWARDS THE EAST AT 45 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 9:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXClay25 min
May 18, 9:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXMingo29 min
May 18, 9:45 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXCabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, Putnam6 hr
May 18, 9:45 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXWayne6 hr
May 18, 10:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXMcDowell, Wyoming40 min
May 18, 10:13 PM EDTTornado WarningRLXWyoming47 min
May 18, 10:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXRaleigh27 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in West Virginia, 1995Every tornado warning in 1995Tornadoes in 1995

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.