Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

January 9, 1998Marshall County, West Virginia

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 9, 1998, 1:03 AM EST for Marshall County, West Virginia. It was in force for 57 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
Jan 9, 1998, 1:03 AM EST (06:03 UTC)
Expired
Jan 9, 1998, 2:00 AM EST
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Marshall County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:07 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jan 9, 1:20 AM ESTTornado F1Graysville, WVA weak tornado tracked from south of Moundsville to just east of Moundsville in the early morning hours of January 9. The tornado began approximately at 120 am and travelled northeast at 30 to 40 mph. The tornado started around Fish Creek near Route 74. It m
Jan 9, 1:20 AM ESTHail 1.75Graysville, WVHail, up to golfball size, covered the ground along the path of the early morning F1 tornado through Marshall County, West Virginia.

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 00:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 78 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 00:00Z on 1998-01-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 598 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 00:00Z on 1998-01-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 80 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
598 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

680 
WUUS1 KPIT 090605 RRA
SVRPIT
WVC051-090700-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
103 AM EST FRI JAN 9 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 AM EST
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN THE WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE
 
   ...MARSHALL COUNTY
 
AT 100 AM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
STRONG WINDS IN SOUTHWEST MARSHALL COUNTY. THIS STORM WILL PASS THROUGH
MOUNDSVILLE BETWEEN 115 AND 130 AM.
 
THIS STORM DOWNED LARGE TREES IN ANTIOCH OF MONROE COUNTY OHIO.  MARBLE
SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN WOODSFIELD OHIO.
 
TAKE SHELTER INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.
DONT USE TELEPHONES OR APPLIANCES UNLESS ITS AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE
STORM HAS PASSED.  DO NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
PM

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 9, 12:42 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPBZBrooke, Hancock, Ohio3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 1998Every 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.