Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 27, NWS Charleston, WV

May 15, 1996McDowell County, Wyoming County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at May 15, 1996, 5:53 PM EDT for McDowell County, Wyoming County, West Virginia. It was in force for 5 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 15, 1996, 5:53 PM EDT (21:53 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 1996, 11:00 PM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

Counties McDowell County, WV, Wyoming County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:35 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 189 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1996-05-15Temperature 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1996-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 214 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
702 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
406 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 152154
FFWCRW
WVC047-109-160300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
553 PM EDT WED MAY 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...S...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...MCDOWELL COUNTY...WYOMING COUNTY
 
RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL ACROSS MCDOWELL AND WYOMING COUNTIES WHERE
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES SHOW ONE TO TWO INCHES OF
RAIN HAS FALLEN TODAY. IN EXCESS OF 2.5 INCHES IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE
FALLEN ALONG THE WYOMING...MCDOWELL COUNTY LINE.
 
STREAMS IN THIS AREA ARE AT BANKFULL WITH SOME SMALL STREAMS BEGINNING
TO OVERFLOW. RUNOFF FROM TODAYS RAINFALL PLUS ADDITIONAL LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINFALL EXPECTED THIS EVENING WILL LEAD TO ADDITIONAL SMALL STREAM
FLOODING.
 
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.
 
ZINN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 3:23 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXLincoln, Wayne6 hr
May 15, 5:17 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXLogan, Mingo5 hr
May 15, 7:04 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRLXCabell5 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West 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.