Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Charleston, WV

June 18, 1997Wirt County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 18, 1997, 2:51 PM EDT for Wirt County, West Virginia. It was in force for 39 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 18, 1997, 2:51 PM EDT (18:51 UTC)
Expired
Jun 18, 1997, 3:30 PM EDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Charleston, WV
Area
Whole counties

County Wirt County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:54 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jun 18, 2:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 189 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 1997-06-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 386 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-06-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 234 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
386 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
715 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
260 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 181850 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC105-181930-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
251 PM EDT WED JUN 18 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  330 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...WIRT COUNTY
 
WEATHER RADAR SHOWS AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WHICH WILL PRODUCE STRONG
WINDS AND LARGE HAIL BEFORE IT DECREASES IN INTENSITY.
 
<< 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 1:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXHarrison39 min
Jun 18, 2:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXTaylor25 min
Jun 18, 2:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXRoane29 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.