Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Wakefield, VA

April 1, 1998Caroline County, Hanover County, Virginia

NWS Wakefield, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 1, 1998, 6:45 PM EST for Caroline County, Hanover County, Virginia. It was in force for 30 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: Apr 1, 1998, 6:45 PM EST (23:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 1, 1998, 7:15 PM EST
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Wakefield, VA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Caroline County, VA, Hanover County, VA

The radar

The Norfolk radar (KAKQ), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:49 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
Apr 1, 7:00 PM EST	Tornado F3	Coatesville, VA
Apr 1, 7:06 PM EST	Tornado F2	Ruther Glen, VA	Supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado along a 9 mile path extending from near Coatesville in northwest Hanover county eastward into south central Caroline county southeast of Ruther Glen. The damage path was nearly continuous along this track, with damage
Apr 1, 7:10 PM EST	Hail 0.88	Ruther Glen, VA

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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 702 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 225 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

905 
WUUS01 KAKQ 012347
SVRAKQ
VAC033-085-020015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA
645 PM EST WED APR 1 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WAKEFIELD VA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA

   ...CAROLINE COUNTY

IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA

   ...NORTHWESTERN HANOVER COUNTY

* AT 642 PM EST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 16 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF ASHLAND OR 4 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF MONTPELIER MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
    MONTPELIER                          BY 645 PM EST
    BEAVER DAM                          BY 650 PM EST
    COATESVILLE                         BY 655 PM EST


SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
TORNADOES CAN SOMETIMES OCCUR IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...SO
REMAIN ALERT AND SEEK SAFE SHELTER UNTIL THE STORM PASSES.

JK/NS

CORRECTED FOR CALL TO ACTION

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wakefield, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 1, 2:09 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Lunenburg	31 min
Apr 1, 2:12 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Nottoway	33 min
Apr 1, 2:20 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Suffolk	35 min
Apr 1, 2:45 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	City of Norfolk, City of Portsmouth	20 min
Apr 1, 5:14 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AKQ	Louisa	31 min
Apr 1, 6:50 PM EST	Tornado Warning	AKQ	Caroline, Hanover	25 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.