Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 83, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 24, 1996Mercer County, West Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1996, 9:45 PM EDT for Mercer County, West Virginia. It was in force for 60 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: May 24, 1996, 9:45 PM EDT (01:45 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 1996, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Mercer County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:44 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
May 24, 10:00 PM EDT	Hail 1.5	Bluefield, 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 183 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: 2113 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 91 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 May 24, 2:55 PM EDT, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 2:55 PM EDT, 6 hours 50 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 24, 5:25 PM EDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

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    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
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        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
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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 25, 12:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Appomattox	65 min
May 24, 8:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Ashe	65 min
May 24, 9:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Mercer	63 min
May 24, 11:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Summers	57 min

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.