Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Charleston, WV

January 8, 1998Wood County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this tornado warning at Jan 8, 1998, 11:56 PM EST for Wood County, West Virginia. It was in force for 19 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jan 8, 1998, 11:56 PM EST (04:56 UTC)
Expired
Jan 9, 1998, 12:15 AM EST
In force
19 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 04:58 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 4.9 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-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.

348 
WFUS1 KCRW 090458 RRA
TORCRW
WVC107-090515-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
1156 PM EST THU JAN 8 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN NORTHWEST WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...NORTHERN WOOD COUNTY
 
AT 1152 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
OVER NORTHERN WOOD COUNTY NEAR MURPHYTOWN....ALONG U.S. 50.
MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTH NORTHEAST TOWARDS WAVERLY.
 
 
<< CALL TO ACTION >> THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. ACT QUICKLY.
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW
GROUND IF AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 8, 10:27 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXMason48 min
Jan 8, 10:51 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXPutnam54 min
Jan 8, 10:57 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXJackson48 min
Jan 8, 11:22 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXWood53 min
Jan 9, 12:06 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXPleasants54 min
Jan 9, 12:22 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRLXWood4 hr
Jan 9, 1:41 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRLXNicholas34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in West Virginia, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.