Alert archive / Virginia / Red Flag Warnings in 2016

Red Flag Warning 4, NWS Charleston, WV

April 11, 2016Buchanan County, Dickenson County, Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this red flag warning at Apr 11, 2016, 1:25 PM EDT for Buchanan County, Dickenson County, Virginia. It was in force for 7 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 11, 2016, 1:25 PM EDT (17:25 UTC)
Expired: Apr 11, 2016, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV

Counties Buchanan County, VA, Dickenson County, VA

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:26 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 239 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: 1953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

863 
WWUS81 KRLX 111725
RFWRLX

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
125 PM EDT MON APR 11 2016

...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...COUPLED WITH STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND
DRY FUELS...PRESENT AN INCREASED FIRE DANGER THIS AFTERNOON...

VAZ003-004-120000-
/O.NEW.KRLX.FW.W.0004.160411T1725Z-160412T0000Z/
DICKENSON-BUCHANAN-
125 PM EDT MON APR 11 2016

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR LOW
RELATIVE HUMIDITIES...SUSTAINED WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH OR
HIGHER...WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 TO 35 MPH...AND LOW FUEL MOISTURE.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING FOR DICKENSON AND BUCHANAN COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA FOR
LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES...SUSTAINED WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH OR
HIGHER...WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 TO 35 MPH...AND LOW FUEL
MOISTURE...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

* AFFECTED AREA...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 003 DICKENSON AND FIRE 
  WEATHER ZONE 004 BUCHANAN.

* WINDS...SOUTHWEST 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 TO 35 MPH.

* TIMING...HIGHEST WINDS AND LOWEST RELATIVE HUMIDITIES FROM 2 PM
  TO 6 PM THIS AFTERNOON.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AS LOW AS 20 PERCENT.

* TEMPERATURES...60S TO AROUND 70.

* LIGHTNING...NONE.

* IMPACTS...THE THREAT IS ENHANCED IN GRASSY AND BRUSH FILLED 
  AREAS. ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY. 
  OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW....OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM WEATHER CAN
CONTRIBUTE TO EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR. VIRGINIA LAWS PROHIBIT
OUTDOORBURNING BEFORE 4 PM AND OPEN BURNING IS CONSIDERED
DANGEROUS ALL DAY TODAY. BE VERY CAREFUL OF HEAT AND SPARKS WHILE
OPERATING ANY EQUIPMENT AND AVOID SMOKING IN WILDLAND AREAS.

&&

$$

TRM

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Virginia, 2016 Every red flag warning in 2016

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.