Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Charleston, WV

June 2, 1998Kanawha County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 1998, 4:16 PM EDT for Kanawha County, West Virginia. It was in force for 14 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: Jun 2, 1998, 4:16 PM EDT (20:16 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1998, 4:30 PM EDT
In force: 14 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 20:17 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, 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, 8.3 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.

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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRW 022015 RRA
TORCRW
WVC039-022030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
416 PM EDT TUE JUN 2 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN WEST CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...SOUTHERN KANAWHA COUNTY
 
AT 413 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO
INDICATE A TORNADO IN SOUTHERN KANAWHA COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS LOCATED
NEAR LEEWOOD AND WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. AREAS ALONG STATE ROUTE
76 WILL BE AFFECTED.
 
<< 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/BELK

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, 3:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Kanawha	38 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, 4:19 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, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.