Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 74, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

August 4, 1997Preston County, West Virginia

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 4, 1997, 8:39 AM EDT for Preston County, West Virginia. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 4, 1997, 8:39 AM EDT (12:39 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 1997, 12:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Preston County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:43 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 111 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 167 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 55 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
167 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
584 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 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 
TTAA00 KPIT 041241
FFWPIT
WVC077-041645-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
839 AM EDT MON AUG 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 12 NOON PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...PRESTON COUNTY
 
BETWEEN 7 AND 830 AM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR HAS INDICATED
THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN BETWEEN TERRA ALTA AND ROWLESBURG...JUST
SOUTH OF CAMP DAWSON.
 
ENOUGH RAINFALL HAS FALLEN TO CAUSE FLASH FLOODING. CREEKS SUCH AS
JOES RUN...BUFFALO RUN AND PRINGLE RUN HAVE RECEIVED THE MOST RAINFALL
AND ARE MOST APT TO FLOOD. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL FURTHER WORSEN TFHE
FLOODING.
 
DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.  THE WATER
MAY BE TOO DEEP TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT
IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 4, 6:34 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZPreston3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 1997Every flash flood warning in 1997

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.