Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 144, NWS Blacksburg, VA

August 16, 1996Patrick County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1996, 2:26 PM EDT for Patrick County, Virginia. It was in force for 64 min. 1 report 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
Aug 16, 1996, 2:26 PM EDT (18:26 UTC)
Expired
Aug 16, 1996, 3:30 PM EDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Patrick County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:40 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 16, 2:28 PM EDTHail 1Fairy Stone Park, VA

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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 75 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 1996-08-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 489 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 1996-08-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 30 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
489 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1125 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 16, 9:57 AM EDT, 4 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 9:57 AM EDT, 4 hours 29 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 16, 11:59 AM EDT, 2 hours 27 minutes before
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-
059-WVZ042>045-170000-

SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1157 AM EDT FRI AUG 16 1996

...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY
RAIN ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON IN SOUTHEASTERN WEST VIRGINIA -
SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA AND NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...

A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS THIS
AFTERNOON.  WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME
MORE NUMEROUS DURING THE AFTERNOON AHEAD OF THE FRONT.  WITH THE
ATMOSPHERE MODERATELY UNSTABLE A FEW OF THE STORMS MAY REACH SEVERE
LEVELS...WITH LARGE HAIL OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS.

IN ADDITION...WITH THE GROUND SATURATED FROM THE RAIN OF EARLIER IN
WEEK...AND THE ANTICIPATED SLOW MOVEMENT OF THIS AFTERNOONS
THUNDERSTORMS...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR STREET AND URBAN FLOODING
UNDER THE HEAVIER RAIN.

BECAUSE ANY SEVERE WEATHER IS LI^KELY TO BE ISOLATED IN NATURE...
SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

NOGUEIRA
Special weather statement, Aug 16, 2:07 PM EDT, 19 minutes before
VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059-161910-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
208 PM EDT FRI AUG 16 1996

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
   UNTIL 800 PM...

AT 207 PM...THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED ACROSS THE
SOUTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY...THE NEW RIVER VALLEY AND
STRETCHED SOUTHWEST TOWARD THE MOUNTAIN EMPIRE OF VIRGINIA.
THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 15 MPH.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL CROSS OVER THE BLUE RIDGE AND SPILL OUT ONTO THE
VIRGINIA PIEDMONT AND FOOTHILLS AS THE AFTERNOON GOES ON. AT 207 PM
THE MOST INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER CENTRAL BEDFORD
COUNTY...NORTHERN PATRICK COUNTY AND JUST ABOUT TO ENTER NORTHERN
TAZEWELL COUNTY IN VIRGINIA.

THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS OF UP TO ONE
INCH PER HOUR...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND
POSSIBLY HAIL. THESE STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME SEVERE. IF
THEY INTENSIFY...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS WILL BE ISSUED.

A FRONTAL SYSTEM ENTERING WEST VIRGINIA THIS AFTERNOON WILL PUSH
ACROSS THE AREA LATER TONIGHT. DRIER AIR WILL FILTER ACROSS
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA BEHIND THE FRONT ON SATURDAY.

KANE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 16, 4:47 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRNKWilkes3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1996Every 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.