Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 68, NWS Charleston, WV

July 2, 1997Putnam County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 2, 1997, 9:26 PM EDT for Putnam County, West Virginia. It was in force for 49 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: Jul 2, 1997, 9:26 PM EDT (01:26 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1997, 10:15 PM EDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Putnam County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 27 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:26 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
Jul 2, 9:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Hurricane, WV	Several trees were blown down in scattered locations. Transformers were blown due to the associated lightning.

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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 2, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 1249 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -137 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1159 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 255 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

856 
WUUS1 KCRW 030127 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC079-030215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
926 PM EDT WED JUL 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN WEST CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...PUTNAM COUNTY
 
CHARLESTON RADAR HAS INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER MASON COUNTY
AND WILL BE MOVING INTO PUTNAM COUNTY WITHIN 15 MINUTES. THE TOWNS OF
BUFFALO..ROBERTSBURG AND EXTRA ARE IN THE PATH OF 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/SIKORA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 9:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Mason	51 min
Jul 2, 9:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Jackson	53 min
Jul 2, 9:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Kanawha	55 min
Jul 2, 10:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln, Wayne	45 min
Jul 2, 10:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Logan	40 min
Jul 2, 11:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Mingo	44 min
Jul 2, 11:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Mingo	27 min
Jul 2, 11:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell, Wyoming	51 min
Jul 3, 12:24 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Mingo	3 hr
Jul 3, 12:41 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	McDowell	3 hr

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.