Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 144, NWS Blacksburg, VA
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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 2:28 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Fairy 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.
- 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
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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</html>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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 4:47 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Wilkes | 3 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.