Alert archive / Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Blacksburg, VA

June 2, 1998Giles County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 1998, 7:06 PM EDT for Giles 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: Jun 2, 1998, 7:06 PM EDT (23:06 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1998, 7:55 PM EDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Giles County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:07 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, 7:15 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Newport, 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
Jun 2, 3:10 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 107 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.

653 
WFUS01 KRNK 022308 RRA
TORRNK
VAC071-022355-

BULLETIN--EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
706 PM EDT TUE JUN 2 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  GILES COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA.

* UNTIL 755 PM EDT.

* AT 704 PM EDT... BLACKSBURG DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 19
  MILES EAST OF BLUEFIELD OR 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NARROWS MOVING
  EAST SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
  THESSALIA                       AROUND 710 PM EDT..
  PEARISBURG                      AROUND 710 PM EDT..
  BANE                            AROUND 715 PM EDT..
  POPLAR HILL                     AROUND 715 PM EDT..
  EGGLESTON                       AROUND 720 PM EDT..

<< CALL TO ACTION >> IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A
NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK REFUGE IN A
CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

.END/DD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Giles	49 min
Jun 2, 5:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery	51 min
Jun 2, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Grayson	37 min
Jun 2, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Floyd	34 min
Jun 2, 6:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	36 min
Jun 2, 6:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Henry, City of Martinsville	48 min
Jun 2, 6:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery	64 min
Jun 2, 6:55 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Montgomery	2 hr
Jun 2, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RNK	Henry, City of Martinsville	32 min
Jun 2, 7:18 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Floyd	62 min
Jun 2, 7:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Pulaski, City of Radford	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in 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.