Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Warnings in 2000
Tornado Warning 5, NWS Baltimore/Washington
NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this tornado warning at May 13, 2000, 5:54 PM EDT for Jefferson County, West Virginia. It was in force for 36 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- May 13, 2000, 5:54 PM EDT (21:54 UTC)
- Expired
- May 13, 2000, 6:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Baltimore/Washington
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Jefferson County, WV
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:55 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 6:00 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Bar Dane, WV | High winds pushed a car into a power pole. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 57 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
- 680 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -169 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1644 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 7 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -23 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
243 WFUS51 KLWX 132155 TORWBC WVC037-132230- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON ISSUED BY STATE COLLEGE PA 554 PM EDT SAT MAY 13 2000 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... JEFFERSON COUNTY IN WEST VIRGINIA. * UNTIL 630 PM EDT. * AT 546 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF RIPPON...OR ABOUT 5 MILES WEST OF CHARLES TOWN...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. GO TO A BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. .END/ JUNG LAT...LON 3936 7795 3921 7795 3917 7783 3940 7776
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 13, 2:40 PM EDT, 3 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 13, 2:40 PM EDT, 3 hours 14 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON 240 PM EDT SAT MAY 13 2000 ...SHORT TERM... AT 18Z...WK BNDRY DRAPED OVR THE NE ZNS SLOWLY MOVING NEWD IN RESPONSE TO SW FLO AHEAD OF APPROACHING CDFNT. S OF THE BNDRY...OVER MUCH OF THE CWA...ATMS IS VERY UNSTABLE WITH LIS AROUND -10...CAPES OF 3500 TO 4500...AND DWPTS IN THE 70S. ATMS ALSO BEGINNING TO DESTABILIZE OVR NE ZNS AS BNDRY MVS NWD. OLD OUTFLOW BNDRY OVR WRN ZNS NOW ACTING AS A FOCUS FOR REDVLPMT OF CNVCTN. EXPECT PREFRONTAL CNVCTN TO INTENSIFY AND MV EWD DURING THE REST OF THE AFTRN. MAIN THREAT WL BE LARGE HAIL AND SPOTTY DAMAGING WINDS. NOT A LOT OF DIRECTIONAL SHEAR TO SUPPORT TORNADOES. HWVR...CELLS THAT FORM AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE APPROACHING BNDRY WITH THE OLD BNDRY DRAPED OVR THE NE ZNS WL HAVE TO BE WATCHED CLOSELY. WATCHBOX OUT. CDFNT PUSHES E OF THE CWA BY 03Z. WL KEEP A RMDNR OF AFT PD E OF THE BLUE RDG AND KEEP TSRA GOING IN OUR SE COUNTIES INTO THE EARLY OVRNGT PD. ...LONG TERM... LONGWAVE TROF SETS UP OVR ERN PTN OF THE NATION SUN THRU MON. AT THE SFC...HI PRES BUILDS OVR THE AREA...BUT SLIPS OFFSHR MON. A VORT MAX ROTATING AROUND THE UPR LVL TROF WL SEND ANOTHER WK BNDRY THRU THE AREA LATE MON. FCST WL BE SUNNY SUN AND CLR SUN NGT. AVN AND ETA HINT AT SOME CLNDS ON MON AS WE GET RETURN FLOW AROUND THE DEPARTING SFC HI AND THE WEAK FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NW. WL GO P/S 4TH PD. DWPTS FCSTD TO FALL INTO THE LWR 40S SUN THRU MON RESULTING IN LOW HUMIDITY. FOR TEMPS...AVN AND NGM MOS WITHIN A FEW DEG OF ONE ANOTHER WITH THE AVN LEANING ON THE COOL SIDE. WENT WITH A BLEND OF THE AVN AND NGM MOS 2ND & 4TH PDS. WENT SLIGHTLY BELOW GUIDANCE 3RD PD AS SKC ALONG WITH LGT WINDS WL RESULT IN GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING. BEYOND 4TH PD...HIGH PRES BUILDS INTO THE AREA TUE & WED WITH NEAR NORMAL TEMPS AND LOW HUMIDITY. COULD SEE SOME CLOUDINESS RETURN THU AS SFC HI SLIPS OFFSHR AND WMFNT APPROACHES FM THE W. .LWX...NONE.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Baltimore/Washington issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2:21 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Jefferson | 39 min |
| May 13, 4:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Pendleton | 52 min |
| May 13, 5:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Berkeley, Jefferson | 65 min |
| May 13, 5:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LWX | Jefferson | 36 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in West Virginia, 2000Every tornado warning in 2000Tornadoes in 2000
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.