Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 42, NWS Charleston, WV

June 13, 1997Ritchie County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 13, 1997, 2:04 PM EDT for Ritchie County, West Virginia. It was in force for 56 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: Jun 13, 1997, 2:04 PM EDT (18:04 UTC)
Expired: Jun 13, 1997, 3:00 PM EDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Ritchie County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:08 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
Jun 13, 2:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Harrisville, WV	Near Harrisville, a roof to an old barn was picked-up and blown across Route 31, while trees were uprooted in the vicinity. Trees fell across Route 9 between Pullman and Oxford.

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, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 160 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: 186 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 4 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.

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 131806 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC085-131900-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
204 PM EDT FRI JUN 13 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  300 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...RITCHIE COUNTY
 
AT 200 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
IN NORTHWEST RITCHIE COUNTY NEAR SANDHILL. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS
TRACKING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR. THIS STORM WILL MOVE ALONG
ROUTE 50...PASSING THROUGH ELLENBORO BY 230 PM.
 
 
<< 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 DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 13, 2:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Doddridge	54 min
Jun 13, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell, Putnam	48 min
Jun 13, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Kanawha	25 min
Jun 13, 4:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette	62 min

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.