Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 5, 1996Montgomery County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1996, 4:05 PM EDT for Montgomery County, Virginia. It was in force for 40 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: May 5, 1996, 4:05 PM EDT (20:05 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1996, 4:45 PM EDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Montgomery County, VA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
May 5, 4:30 PM EDT	Hail 2.25	Pilot, VA
May 5, 4:30 PM EDT	Hail 1	Christiansburg, VA
May 5, 4:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Pilot, 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 79 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: 62 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -304 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1026 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

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 May 5, 2:02 PM EDT, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 5, 2:02 PM EDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
200 PM EDT SUN MAY 5 1995

DISCUSSION...

NGM ONCE AGAIN TOSSED CIRCULAR FILE...WILL USE ETA.

88D MAINLY CLR OVR CWA WITH ONLY ISOL RW'S ON SCREEN.  WHILE WELL
DEFINED ON THE COAST...FRNT NOW JUST WSHFT LINE ACRS INTERIOR NC BUT
IS BETTER DEFINED IN SWRN VA AND SERN WV.  SEEMS TO BE NORTH OF RNK
BUT W OF ROA AND NORTH OF BLF/BKW...BUT S OF LWB.

BIG QUESTION FOR TONIGHT IS TRACK OF TSTM COMPLEX TRKING THRU MIDDLE
OF COUNTRY AND OTHER TSTMS FIRING TO ITS NE.  THNK THIS MAIN AREA
SHUD STRT TO SLIP MORE ESE BUT WITH RW/TRW FILLING IN TO THE NORTH I
DONT SEE HOW WE CAN MISS GETTING SOME RAIN AND THUNDER DRNG TONIGHT.
IDEA OF LIKELY TO CATEG POPS SEEMS RSNBL FOR ALL OF CWA...ALTHO
NEBULOSITY OF EVENTS DRNG THE LAST 24 HRS IS DOING A JOB ON MY
CONFDNCE WITH THIS PARTICULAR FRNTL SYSTEM.  OF NOTE IS THAT WHILE
NICE VORT MAX TRKED ACRS CWA TONIGHT ETA DOESNT GNRTE MUCH
Q-FRCING...ALTHO PLNTY OF ISENT LFT ESPC OVR SRN HALF OF CWA AND
CLOSEST TO H8 THTA-E RDG.

FOR MON WE MAY FINALLY GET A SHORT BREAK FROM TRYING RW/TRW FCSTING.
SIGNFCNT DRYING INDCTD BY ETA...AND THIS SEEMS RSNBLE BHND MCC AND
LUKIN AT SAT PIX FARTHER W OF MCC.

NEXT SYS LUKS LIKE MOST OF CWA SHUD BE UNDER COOLER AND MORE STBLE
AIRMASS AS HI SLIPS E OF APPLCHNS.  THIS SHUD KEEP SVR THREAT DOWN
AND INSTD GIVE GNRL COOL RAIN TO AREA FOR TUE.

FWC LUKS OKAY FOR TONIGHT AND IN BALLPARK FOR MON...BU&T SEEMS TO
WARM FOR MON NIGHT AND TUE...PREFER FAN #S THEN.

ROA 55/79/54/66 +-26

SPN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 5, 11:54 AM EDT, 4 hours 11 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 3:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Grayson	45 min
May 5, 3:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pulaski	38 min
May 5, 4:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Floyd	58 min
May 5, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Tazewell	59 min
May 5, 4:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Salem	49 min
May 5, 4:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	City of Roanoke	49 min
May 5, 4:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	62 min
May 5, 5:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pulaski, City of Radford	45 min
May 5, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	67 min
May 5, 7:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania	57 min
May 5, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Craig	53 min
May 5, 7:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Carroll, Grayson, City of Galax	59 min
May 5, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Halifax	62 min
May 5, 5:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Wilkes	41 min
May 5, 7:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Watauga	57 min
May 5, 6:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Summers	54 min
May 5, 6:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Monroe	32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 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.