Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 17, NWS Charleston, WV

May 18, 1997Pleasants County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 1997, 3:36 PM EDT for Pleasants County, West Virginia. It was in force for 39 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: May 18, 1997, 3:36 PM EDT (19:36 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 4:15 PM EDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Pleasants County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:39 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
May 18, 4:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Maxwell, WV
May 18, 4:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Shawnee, WV
May 18, 4:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Hebron, 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, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 147 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 820 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 448 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 540 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

029 
WUUS1 KCRW 181938 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC073-182015-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
336 PM EDT SUN MAY 18 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  415 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...PLEASANTS COUNTY
 
WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST NORTHEAST OF
PARKERSBURG WV MOVING NORTHEAST INTO PLEASANTS COUNTY AT 35 TO 40 MPH.
THIS STORM IS APT TO PRODUCE HAIL 1 TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER. STRONG
DAMAGING WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
 
<< 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

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West 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.