Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Pittsburgh, PA
NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 18, 1997, 2:32 PM EDT for Brooke County, West Virginia. It was in force for 58 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 18, 1997, 2:32 PM EDT (18:32 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 18, 1997, 3:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 58 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pittsburgh, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Brooke County, WV
The radar
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:36 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, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 43 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
- 582 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -80 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1058 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 2 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -10 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KPIT 181831 RRA SVRPIT WVC009-181930- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 232 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN THE WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE ...BROOKE COUNTY AT 230 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ENTERING WESTERN BROOKE COUNTY. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...TORRENTIAL RAINS...AND GUSTY WINDS. THE STORM WILL PASS NEAR BETHANY WV. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND OVER 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTER@IOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR BUILDING. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 2:14 PM EDT, 18 minutes before
PAZ007>009-013>016-022-190000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 215 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH SAYS... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT FOR THESE COUNTIES NORTH OF PITTSBURGH IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... ARMSTRONG BUTLER CLARION FOREST JEFFERSON LAWRENCE MERCER VENANGO. DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER EAST CENTRAL OHIO ARE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. UP TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. AS A COLD FRONT PRESSES SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING...THE RAIN WILL BE PUSHED FURTHER SOUTH...WITH ALL THE RAIN ENDING BY MIDNIGHT.
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 2:15 PM EDT, 17 minutes before
PAZ007>009-013>016-022-190000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 215 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH SAYS... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT FOR THESE COUNTIES NORTH OF PITTSBURGH IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... ARMSTRONG BUTLER CLARION FOREST JEFFERSON LAWRENCE MERCER VENANGO. DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER EAST CENTRAL OHIO ARE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. UP TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. AS A COLD FRONT PRESSES SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING...THE RAIN WILL BE PUSHED FURTHER SOUTH...WITH ALL THE RAIN ENDING BY MIDNIGHT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 6:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Preston | 62 min |
| Jul 18, 7:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Hancock | 51 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1997Every severe thunderstorm 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.