Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 142, NWS Charleston, WV

August 27, 1996Dickenson County, Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Aug 27, 1996, 6:38 PM EDT for Dickenson County, Virginia. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 27, 1996, 6:38 PM EDT (22:38 UTC)
Expired
Aug 27, 1996, 8:45 PM EDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Dickenson County, VA

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 248 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 1996-08-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 150 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-08-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -36 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
150 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
761 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-1 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 KCRW 272232
FFWCRW
VAC051-280045-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
638 PM EDT TUE AUG 27 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  845 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...DICKENSON COUNTY
 
AT 625 PM...A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS ALONG ROUTE 72
...SOUTH OF CLINTWOOD. THE THUNDERSTORM WAS DRIFTING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST.
WHEN THE STORM MOVED THROUGH CLINTWOOD...A SPOTTER REPORTED 2.37 INCHES
OF RAIN IN ABOUT AN HOURS TIME. THIS IS ENOUGH RAIN TO PRODUCE FLOODING
OF SMALLER STREAMS AND CREEKS.
 
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. WATCH OUT FOR MUD SLIDES.

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, Aug 27, 5:04 PM EDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before
KYZ104-272300-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
500 PM EDT TUE AUG 27 1996

...SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WERE DROPPING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN OVER
SOUTHWEST ELLIOT COUNTY...

AT 500 PM...THUNDERSTORMS COVERED MUCH OF ELLIOT COUNTY.  THE
HEAVIEST RAIN WAS FALLING NEAR LITTLE SANDY AND BASCOM IN SOUTHWEST
PORTIONS.  THE STORMS WERE DRIFTING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

RADAR HAS ESTIMATED 1.5 TO 2.0 INCHES BETWEEN 300 PM AND 500 PM.
THIS WILL CAUSE RAPID RISES ON SMALLER STREAM AND CREEKS.  LOCALIZED
FLOODING IN POOR DRAINAGE AREAS IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

RESIDENTS LIVING IN ELLIOT COUNTY SHOULD MONITOR STREAM LEVELS
CLOSELY AND BE PREPARED TAKE QUICK ACTION IN CASE A WARNING IS
ISSUED.

END/SEKELSKY

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 1996Every flash flood warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.