Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Charleston, WV

February 27, 1996Doddridge County, Ritchie County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 27, 1996, 3:28 PM EST for Doddridge County, Ritchie County, West Virginia. It was in force for 32 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Feb 27, 1996, 3:28 PM EST (20:28 UTC)
Expired: Feb 27, 1996, 4:00 PM EST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

Counties Doddridge County, WV, Ritchie County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:31 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Feb 27, 3:35 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Pullman, WV
Feb 27, 3:45 PM EST	Hail 2	Oxford, WV
Feb 27, 3:50 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Blandville, WV

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 569 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 213 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 
WUUS1 KCRW 272028 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC017-085-272100-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
328 PM EST TUE FEB 27 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...S...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...DODDRIDGE COUNTY
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...RITCHIE COUNTY
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
CROSSING CENTRAL RITCHIE COUNTY. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE RACING EAST AT
40 MILES AND HOUR. THE SEVERE STORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE WEST UNION AREA
BY 340 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.