Alert archive / West Virginia / Tornado Watches in 2000

Tornado Watch 333

May 23, 20004 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2000, 7:45 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 23, 2000, 7:45 PM EDT (23:45 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 2000, 1:00 AM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 40 counties

Boyd County, KY, Athens County, OH, Gallia County, OH, Hocking County, OH, Jackson County, OH, Lawrence County, OH, Meigs County, OH, Morgan County, OH, Vinton County, OH, Washington County, OH, Highland County, VA, Barbour County, WV, Braxton County, WV, Cabell County, WV, Calhoun County, WV, Clay County, WV, Doddridge County, WV, Gilmer County, WV, Harrison County, WV, Jackson County, WV, Kanawha County, WV, Lewis County, WV, Marion County, WV, Mason County, WV, Nicholas County, WV, Pleasants County, WV, Pocahontas County, WV, Preston County, WV, Putnam County, WV, Randolph County, WV, Ritchie County, WV, Roane County, WV, Taylor County, WV, Tucker County, WV, Tyler County, WV, Upshur County, WV, Webster County, WV, Wetzel County, WV, Wirt County, WV, Wood County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:44 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.

Warnings issued inside it

7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 8:03 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Morgan	32 min
May 23, 8:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LWX	Highland	31 min
May 23, 8:27 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Tyler	2 hr
May 23, 8:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Washington	31 min
May 23, 8:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Wood	34 min
May 23, 9:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Washington	21 min
May 23, 9:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Pleasants, Ritchie	32 min

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 191 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: 828 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 187 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 
WWUS9 KMKC 232324
MKC WW 232324
OHZ000-WVZ000-240500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 333
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
724 PM EDT TUE MAY 23 2000

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEASTERN OHIO                               
   NORTHERN AND CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA                      

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 745 PM
UNTIL 100 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF ATHENS OHIO TO 20
MILES EAST OF ELKINS WEST VIRGINIA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 327...WW 328...WW
329...WW 330...WW 331...WW 332...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX...WITH A HISTORY OF DAMAGING
TORNADOES...MOVING INTO WATCH AREA WHERE CAPES RANGE FROM 2000 TO
3000 J/KG. APPROACHING 60 KT MID LEVEL SPEED MAX WILL PROVIDE
ENHANCED DEEP LAYER SHEAR FAVORABLE FOR A FEW TORNADOES AND
SCATTERED WIND AND HAIL EVENTS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27035.

...ROGASH

;394,0825 393,0792 380,0792 381,0825;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 9:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Crittenden, Fulton and 9 more	5 hr
May 23, 11:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adair, Allen, Anderson, Barren, Boyle, Breckinridge and 31 more	6 hr
May 23, 2:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bell, Clinton, Harlan, Knox, McCreary, Wayne and 1 more	5 hr
May 23, 3:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adair, Allen, Barren, Bell, Boyle, Breathitt and 52 more	6 hr
May 23, 3:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adair, Allen, Barren, Boyle, Casey, Cumberland and 11 more	6 hr
May 23, 5:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Ballard, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle and 22 more	6 hr
May 23, 7:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Clinton, Estill, Floyd and 17 more	6 hr
May 23, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Ashland, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford and 40 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in West Virginia, 2000 Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2000 Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 2000 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.