Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 79, NWS Charleston, WV

July 9, 1997Lawrence County, Ohio; Cabell County, Wayne County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 1997, 5:17 PM EDT for Lawrence County, Ohio; Cabell County, Wayne County, West Virginia. It was in force for 28 min. 2 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: Jul 9, 1997, 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired: Jul 9, 1997, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lawrence County, OH, Cabell County, WV, Wayne County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:20 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 9, 5:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Huntington, WV
Jul 9, 5:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Lavalette, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 9, 12:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 905 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 2.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

076 
WUUS1 KCRW 092118 RRA
SVRCRW
OHC087-WVC011-099-092145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
517 PM EDT WED JUL 9 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...S...
 
IN SOUTHEAST OHIO
 
   ...SOUTHERN LAWRENCE COUNTY
 
 
IN WEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...CABELL COUNTY...NORTHERN WAYNE COUNTY
 
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED TWO POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THE
FIRST WAS OVER SOUTHERN LAWRENCE COUNTY OHIO MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 TO
25 MPH AND WILL MOVE INTO HUNTINGTON BY 530 PM.
 
THE SECOND STORM WAS NORTHWEST OF WAYNE IN WAYNE COUNTY AND WILL
MOVE EAST AT 20 TO 30 MPH.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD
MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT USE
TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
 
SITES

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 9, 4:10 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

WVZ005-013>016-018-026>032-036>040-046-047-092100-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
410 PM EDT WED JUL 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH...THAT WAS IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON...HAS BEEN CANCELLED A BIT EARLY.

THE THREAT OF DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL HAVE MOVE EAST AND
SOUTH FOR EARLY THIS EVENING.

A FEW LINGERING SHOWERS...AND MAYBE EVEN A THUNDERSTORM...ARE
STILL POSSIBLE EARLY THIS EVENING.

FROM INITIAL DAMAGE REPORTS...AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR
TRENDS...THE MOST VIOLENT THUNDERSTORMS WENT ACROSS NORTHERN
RITCHIE COUNTY BETWEEN NOON AND 1 PM.  THE ONLY STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
REPORTS RECEIVED SO FAR WERE AROUND THE CITY OF PENNSBORO.
A PORTION OF THE ROLLER RINK ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF.  A FEW HOMES IN
PENNSBORO HAD ROOF DAMAGE.  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WAS IN
EFFECT FOR RITCHIE COUNTY AT THAT TIME.  ELSEWHERE...A FEW TREES
WERE BLOWN DOWN...CAUSING SOME POWER OUTAGES.  /SEE LOCAL STORM
REPORT FOR DETAILS/

SMALL STREAMS AROUND KENNA OF JACKSON COUNTY BLOCKED A
FEW ROADS FOR A SHORT TIME...BUT NO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING OCCURRED.

END / KTB / NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 11:56 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Ritchie	34 min
Jul 9, 12:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Doddridge	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1997 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Ohio, 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.