Alert archive / Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 20, 1998Pittsylvania County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 20, 1998, 4:51 PM EST for Pittsylvania County, Virginia. It was in force for 49 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, 4:51 PM EST (21:51 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 1998, 5:40 PM EST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Pittsylvania County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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
Mar 20, 5:30 PM EST	Hail 1.75	Keeling, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 20, 3:30 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 43 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: 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.

200 
WUUS01 KRNK 202152 RRA
SVRRNK
VAC143-202240-

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


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 540 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA

   ...PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY


AT 451 PM EST... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 17 MILES NORTH OF DANVILLE OR 8 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST
OF GRETNA MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO REACH...
 JAVA                            AROUND 455 PM EST
 PITTSVILLE                      AROUND 500 PM EST
 GRETNA                          AROUND 500 PM EST
 CHALK LEVEL                     AROUND 500 PM EST
 MT AIRY                         AROUND 505 PM EST
 HURT                            AROUND 520 PM EST
 STRAIGHTSTONE                   AROUND 520 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.

MTE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 7:04 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Grayson	3 hr
Mar 20, 7:23 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Grayson	32 min
Mar 20, 9:58 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Montgomery	3 hr
Mar 20, 11:09 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Roanoke	3 hr
Mar 20, 11:09 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Salem	3 hr
Mar 20, 1:21 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pulaski	29 min
Mar 20, 2:25 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Giles, Montgomery	2 hr
Mar 20, 2:35 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Floyd	50 min
Mar 20, 3:15 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Salem	3 hr
Mar 20, 3:15 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Roanoke	3 hr
Mar 20, 3:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Salem	36 min
Mar 20, 3:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	City of Roanoke	36 min
Mar 20, 3:41 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RNK	Henry, City of Martinsville	44 min
Mar 20, 4:03 PM EST	Tornado Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania	62 min
Mar 20, 4:28 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Halifax	47 min
Mar 20, 4:30 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Bedford, Botetourt	2 hr
Mar 20, 5:31 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Salem	3 hr
Mar 20, 5:31 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Roanoke	3 hr
Mar 20, 6:11 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Rockbridge, City of Buena Vista, City of Lexington	3 hr
Mar 20, 6:53 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania, City of Danville	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 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.