Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 111, NWS Charleston, WV

August 4, 1997Buchanan County, Dickenson County, Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 1997, 12:54 PM EDT for Buchanan County, Dickenson County, Virginia. It was in force for 51 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: Aug 4, 1997, 12:54 PM EDT (16:54 UTC)
Expired: Aug 4, 1997, 1:45 PM EDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

Counties Buchanan County, VA, Dickenson County, VA

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:55 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
Aug 4, 1:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Maxie, VA
Aug 4, 1:40 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Deskins, VA	Numerous trees were blown down along Route 620.
Aug 4, 1:50 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Deskins, 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, 4.9 hours before the alert went out and 239 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: 538 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 743 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

657 
WUUS1 KCRW 041655 RRA
SVRCRW
VAC027-051-041745-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1254 PM EDT MON AUG 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...S...
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...BUCHANAN COUNTY...SOUTHERN DICKENSON COUNTY
 
DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH
INTO SOUTHWEST BUCHANAN AND WESTERN DICKENSON COUNTIES. THESE STORMS
WILL PASS NEAR HAYSI AND CLINTWOOD IN DICKENSON COUNTY AROUND 115 PM.
STORMS WILL MOVE JUST SOUTH OF GRUNDY IN BUCHANAN COUNTY BETWEEN 110 AND
120 PM.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD
MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT 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

Local storm report, Aug 4, 10:54 AM EDT, 2 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA
1054 AM EDT MON AUG 04 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1050 AM                              KY   .75 INCH HAIL
08/04/97   CARTER                         NEAR CARTER CAVES STATE
                                          PARK AT 1020 AM EDT

Local storm report, Aug 4, 10:55 AM EDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA
1054 AM EDT MON AUG 04 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION:....

1050 AM                              KY   .75 INCH HAIL
08/04/97   CARTER                         NEAR CARTER CAVES STATE
                                          PARK AT 1020 AM EDT

Local storm report, Aug 4, 11:04 AM EDT, 1 hour 50 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA
1104 AM EDT MON AUG 04 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 AM                              KY   WIND DAMAGE
08/04/97   ELLIOTT                        ARMY CORP OF ENG REPORTED
                                          SEVERAL TREE LIMBS
                                          DOWN...6 TO 8 INCH
                                          DIAMETER IN GRAYSON LAKE
                                          AREA

Local storm report, Aug 4, 11:55 AM EDT, 59 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WEST VIRGINIA
1155 AM EDT MON AUG 04 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1153 AM                              WV   WIND DAMAGE
08/04/97   MASON                          TREES DOWN 830 AM
                                          EDT...BLOCKED CANE RIDGE
                                          ROAD...BETWEEN RIPLEY AND
                                          PT. PLEASANT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 1:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Buchanan	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1997 Every 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.