Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Charleston, WV

May 24, 1998McDowell County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1998, 7:49 AM EDT for McDowell County, West Virginia. It was in force for 41 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: May 24, 1998, 7:49 AM EDT (11:49 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 1998, 8:30 AM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County McDowell County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:49 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
May 24, 8:00 AM EDT	Hail 0.75	Paynesville, 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 nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 00:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 192 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: 258 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -82 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 788 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 140 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 243 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 241149 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC047-241230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
749 AM EDT SUN MAY 24 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...MCDOWELL COUNTY
 
AT 745 AM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. THE
STORM WILL REACH PAYNESVILLE AROUND 755 AM EDT. OTHER TOWNS IN THE PATH
OF THIS STORM ARE...JOLO...RAYSAR AND BRADSHAW AROUND 800 AM AND BARTLEY
BEFORE 805 AM EDT.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER
IN A STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGI\NG WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN
...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
.END/BELK/YOUNG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 3:43 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell	47 min
May 24, 4:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell	44 min
May 24, 5:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Putnam	52 min
May 24, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln	31 min
May 24, 5:17 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Lincoln	28 min
May 24, 5:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Putnam	32 min
May 24, 5:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Kanawha	68 min
May 24, 6:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell	50 min
May 24, 6:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Cabell, Wayne	42 min
May 24, 6:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Lincoln	43 min
May 24, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell, Wayne	43 min
May 24, 7:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Cabell, Wayne	48 min
May 24, 7:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Harrison	39 min
May 24, 7:26 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Cabell, Lincoln	4 hr
May 24, 7:38 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Lincoln	67 min
May 24, 7:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone	63 min
May 24, 7:53 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Taylor	52 min
May 24, 7:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Wood	50 min

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.