Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 16, NWS Charleston, WV

May 4, 1996Lewis County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 4, 1996, 10:27 PM EDT for Lewis County, West Virginia. It was in force for 6 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: May 4, 1996, 10:27 PM EDT (02:27 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1996, 4:30 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Lewis County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:26 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 27 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 946 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 50 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 050231
FFWCRW
WVC001-033-041-050830-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1027 PM EDT SAT MAY 4 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS REISSUED THE
FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...BARBOUR COUNTY...HARRISON COUNTY...LEWIS COUNTY
 
AS OF 1020 PM...OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICE DIRECTORS FROM THESE
COUNTIES REPORTED THAT MAJOR FLOODING WAS OCCURING ON THE SMALLER
STREAMS AND CREEKS. IN HARRISON COUNTY...MOST OF THE FLOOING WAS
OCCURING SOUTH OF ROUTE 50. FLOODING WAS REPORTED THROUGHOUT
BARBOUR AND LEWIS COUNTIES. SOME EVACUATIONS HAVE OCCURRED.
MANY STREETS WERE CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER.
 
THE RAIN HAS ENDED WITH NO MORE RAIN EXPECTED FOR TONIGHT.
WATER CONTINUES TO RUNOFF INTO THE SMALLER STREAMS AND CREEKS.
FLOODING WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS.
 
 
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL@
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.

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 4, 8:46 PM EDT, 1 hour 41 minutes before

WVZ005>011-013>020-024>032-035>040-046-047-OHZ066-067-075-076-
083>087-KYZ101>105-050130-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
843 PM EDT SAT MAY 4 1996

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM  WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND
LOWLANDS OF WEST VIRGINIA...ALSO SOUTHEAST OHIO AND EXTREME EASTERN
KENTUCKY. THE STRONG STORMS HAVE MOVED EAST OF OUR REGION AND ONLY A
FEW LINGERING SHOWERS REMAIN ACROSS THE REGION.

GRAF

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 10:27 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Barbour, Harrison	6 hr
May 5, 3:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell	47 min
May 5, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell	15 min
May 5, 4:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Kanawha	50 min
May 5, 4:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln	16 min
May 5, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Raleigh	49 min
May 5, 5:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette	42 min
May 5, 5:25 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Kanawha	4 hr
May 5, 7:26 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Boone	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 1996 Every 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.