Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 117, NWS Charleston, WV

August 15, 1997Roane County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 1997, 3:07 PM EDT for Roane County, West Virginia. It was in force for 38 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 15, 1997, 3:07 PM EDT (19:07 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1997, 3:45 PM EDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Roane County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:14 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 15, 3:20 PM EDTHail 0.75Harmony, WV
Aug 15, 3:20 PM EDTThunderstorm WindHarmony, WVA cinderblock garage in Gandeeville was destroyed. The owner was leaving the garage when the storm began. He was hit in the back by a falling block, then pelted with hail as he ran to his nearby home. He was not injured. Windows and part of the roof were d
Aug 15, 3:30 PM EDTHail 1.75Gandeeville, 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 217 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 1997-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 135 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1167 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
161 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.

735 
WUUS1 KCRW 151913 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC087-151945-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
307 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN WEST CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...ROANE COUNTY
 
AT 312 PM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING
EAST INTO ROANE COUNTY AT 35 MPH.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND
IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND
VERY HEAVY RAIN.FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS
QUICKLY SO DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
 
.END/STRUBLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 15, 2:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXCabell35 min
Aug 15, 2:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXJackson29 min
Aug 15, 3:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXBraxton, Calhoun, Clay49 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.