Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 20, 1998Floyd County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 20, 1998, 2:35 PM EST for Floyd County, Virginia. It was in force for 50 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
Mar 20, 1998, 2:35 PM EST (19:35 UTC)
Expired
Mar 20, 1998, 3:25 PM EST
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Floyd County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 13 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 20, 2:55 PM ESTHail 0.75Floyd, VA

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 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 82 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1998-03-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1998-03-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 179 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
595 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
179 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
234 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.

370 
WUUS01 KRNK 201936 RRA
SVRRNK
VAC063-202025-

BULLETIN--IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
235 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 325 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA

   ...FLOYD COUNTY


AT 235 PM EST... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 24 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF MT AIRY OR 7 MILES SOUTH
OF ALUM RIDGE MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO REACH...
 ALUM RIDGE                      AROUND 240 PM EST
 FLOYD                           AROUND 245 PM EST
 TERRYS FORK                     AROUND 305 PM EST
 CHECK                           AROUND 310 PM EST

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.   REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCED WARNING.  MOVE INSIDE AND STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

NOGUEIRA

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 20, 7:04 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKGrayson3 hr
Mar 20, 7:23 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKGrayson32 min
Mar 20, 9:58 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKMontgomery3 hr
Mar 20, 11:09 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKRoanoke, City of Roanoke3 hr
Mar 20, 11:09 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKCity of Salem3 hr
Mar 20, 1:21 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKPulaski29 min
Mar 20, 2:25 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKGiles, Montgomery2 hr
Mar 20, 3:15 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKRoanoke, City of Salem3 hr
Mar 20, 3:15 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKCity of Roanoke3 hr
Mar 20, 3:34 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKRoanoke, City of Salem36 min
Mar 20, 3:34 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKCity of Roanoke36 min
Mar 20, 3:41 PM ESTTornado WarningRNKHenry, City of Martinsville44 min
Mar 20, 4:03 PM ESTTornado WarningRNKPittsylvania62 min
Mar 20, 4:28 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKHalifax47 min
Mar 20, 4:30 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKBedford, Botetourt2 hr
Mar 20, 4:51 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKPittsylvania49 min
Mar 20, 5:31 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKRoanoke, City of Salem3 hr
Mar 20, 5:31 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKCity of Roanoke3 hr
Mar 20, 6:11 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningRNKRockbridge, City of Buena Vista, City of Lexington3 hr
Mar 20, 6:53 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKPittsylvania, City of Danville47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Virginia, 1998Every 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.