Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS Charleston, WV

January 8, 1998Wood County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 8, 1998, 11:22 PM EST for Wood County, West Virginia. It was in force for 53 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: Jan 8, 1998, 11:22 PM EST (04:22 UTC)
Expired: Jan 9, 1998, 12:15 AM EST
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Wood County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:23 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
Jan 8, 11:40 PM EST	Hail 1.75	Mineral Wells, WV
Jan 8, 11:45 PM EST	Hail 1.75	Davisville, WV
Jan 8, 11:50 PM EST	Tornado F2	Murphytown, WV	One mobile home along Farrow Hill Road was completely destroyed. Luckily, the owner was not at home. One church sustained roof damage. A side to a barn was ripped off. An old farm house was damaged. Some bark from a tree went through a cars windshield. O

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, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 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.

286 
WUUS1 KCRW 090423 RRA
SVRCRW
WVC107-090515-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1122 PM EST THU JAN 8 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...WOOD COUNTY
 
AT 1118 PM...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTHERN JACKSON COUNTY NEAR
MEDINA WAS LIFTING NORTHWARD AT 40 MILES AN HOUR. THIS STORM HAS HAD A
HISTORY OF PRODUCING GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL NEAR SANDYVILLE AT 1109 PM.
IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL...THIS STORM MAY CONTAIN DAMAGING WINDS.
THIS STORM WILL TRACK ALONG INTERSTATE 77.
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND
IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND
VERY HEAVY RAIN.FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS
QUICKLY SO DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 10:27 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Mason	48 min
Jan 8, 10:51 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Putnam	54 min
Jan 8, 10:57 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Jackson	48 min
Jan 8, 11:56 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RLX	Wood	19 min
Jan 9, 12:06 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Pleasants	54 min
Jan 9, 12:22 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Wood	4 hr
Jan 9, 1:41 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Nicholas	34 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.