Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Charleston, WV
NWS Charleston, WV issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 1998, 3:37 PM EDT for Kanawha County, West Virginia. It was in force for 38 min. 7 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
- Jun 2, 1998, 3:37 PM EDT (19:37 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 2, 1998, 4:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 38 min
- Issued by
- NWS Charleston, WV
- Area
- Whole counties
County Kanawha County, WV
The radar
The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:37 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 3:50 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 60 | Ruth, WV | |
| Jun 2, 3:55 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Charleston, WV | |
| Jun 2, 3:56 PM EDT | Hail 1.5 | (Crw) Yeager Arpt, WV | |
| Jun 2, 3:57 PM EDT | Hail 1.5 | Charleston, WV | |
| Jun 2, 3:58 PM EDT | Hail 2 | Charleston, WV | |
| Jun 2, 3:58 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Charleston, WV | The tornado moved up Chappell Hollow, in the Kanawha City section of Charleston. The path was along the east facing slope of the hollow, and narrowly missed several homes. A few homes were still damaged by fallen trees. The estimated winds were between 90 a |
| Jun 2, 4:19 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Leewood, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 3:10 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 219 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1298 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 81 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 208 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 274 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
191 WFUS1 KCRW 021937 TORCRW WVC039-022015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 337 PM EDT TUE JUN 2 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...... IN WEST CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA ...SOUTHWESTERN KANAWHA COUNTY AT 335 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO BETWEN POCA AND HURRICANE. THE TORNADO IS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THE STORM WILL AFFECT SAINT ALBANS AROURN 350 PM EDT. AREAS SOUTH AND WEST OF INTERSTATE 77 ARE AT RISK FROM THIS STORM. << CALL TO ACTION >> DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT. .END/
The office that day
Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2, 2:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Mason | 33 min |
| Jun 2, 3:15 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Putnam | 30 min |
| Jun 2, 3:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Kanawha | 52 min |
| Jun 2, 3:53 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Boone | 52 min |
| Jun 2, 4:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Wayne | 49 min |
| Jun 2, 4:16 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Kanawha | 14 min |
| Jun 2, 4:19 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RLX | Fayette, Raleigh | 41 min |
| Jun 2, 4:53 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Kanawha | 67 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.