Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 263, NWS Charleston, WV

August 25, 1998Ritchie County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 25, 1998, 7:06 PM EDT for Ritchie County, West Virginia. It was in force for 64 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: Aug 25, 1998, 7:06 PM EDT (23:06 UTC)
Expired: Aug 25, 1998, 8:10 PM EDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Ritchie County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:10 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
Aug 25, 7:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Cairo, WV	Fallen tree branches caused an electrical outage to about 6,000 customers in the county.

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
Aug 25, 4:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 160 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: 1153 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 784 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 195 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.

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 252306 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC085-260010-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
706 PM EDT TUE AUG 25 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  RITCHIE COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 810 PM EDT.

* AT 705 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
INDICATED   A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF HARRISVILLE.
THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME COMMUNITIES WHICH MAY BE AFFECTED BY THIS STORM ARE...
   HARRISVILLE.
   PENNSBORO.
   MOUNTAIN.

GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!  A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

PLEASE REPORT ANY TORNADOES...FUNNEL CLOUDS...HAIL OR STRONG WINDS
BY CALLING TOLL FREE AT 877-633-6772.

.END/MJS

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West 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.