Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 109, NWS Charleston, WV

August 4, 1997Carter County, Kentucky

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 1997, 10:12 AM EDT for Carter County, Kentucky. It was in force for 33 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 4, 1997, 10:12 AM EDT (14:12 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 1997, 10:45 AM EDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Carter County, KY

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:16 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 4, 10:40 AM EDTHail 0.75Olive Hill, KY

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

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 140 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, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1010 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 169 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
1010 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
547 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
218 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
6.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 041414 RRA
SVRCRW
KYC043-041445-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1012 AM EDT MON AUG 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN EAST KENTUCKY
 
   ...CARTER COUNTY
 
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 64 MOVING TOWARD GRAYSON. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR
GREGORYVILLE.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD
MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE
TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE
STORM HAS PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS

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, Aug 4, 5:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 42 minutes before
WVZ009>011-OHZ066-067-075-076-084-041030-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
530 AM EDT MON AUG 4 1997

EARLY MORNING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO
SOUTHEAST OHIO.

AT 5:30 AM...THE LEADING EDGE OF THE RAIN WAS NEAR NEW LEXINGTON
OF PERRY COUNTY AND LOGAN OF HOCKING COUNTY.

THE RAIN WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.  THE RAIN WILL
REACH FOLKS NEAR MCCONNELSVILLE...ATHENS...AND MCARTHER BETWEEN 6 AND
6:30 AM...THEN INTO THE MARIETTA AND PARKERSBURG VICINITY BEFORE 7 AM.

SOME SHOWERS COULD CONTAIN A DOWNPOUR.  ALLOW SOME EXTRA TIME
FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE.

END / KTB / NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
Special weather statement, Aug 4, 5:33 AM EDT, 4 hours 39 minutes before
WVZ009>011-OHZ066-067-075-076-084-041030-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
530 AM EDT MON AUG 4 1997

EARLY MORNING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO
SOUTHEAST OHIO.

AT 5:30 AM...THE LEADING EDGE OF THE RAIN WAS NEAR NEW LEXINGTON
OF PERRY COUNTY AND LOGAN OF HOCKING COUNTY.

THE RAIN WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.  THE RAIN WILL
REACH FOLKS NEAR MCCONNELSVILLE...ATHENS...AND MCARTHER BETWEEN 6 AND
6:30 AM...THEN INTO THE MARIETTA AND PARKERSBURG VICINITY BEFORE 7 AM.

SOME SHOWERS COULD CONTAIN A DOWNPOUR.  ALLOW SOME EXTRA TIME
FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE.

END / KTB / NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 4, 10:34 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXElliott, Lawrence26 min
Aug 4, 5:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXLawrence26 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.