Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2025

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 197, NWS Charleston, WV

May 17, 2025McDowell County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 2025, 1:59 AM EDT for McDowell County, West Virginia. It was in force for 31 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2025, 1:59 AM EDT (05:59 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2025, 2:30 AM EDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Storm-based polygon
Hail: 1.0 in
Wind: 60.0 mph

County McDowell County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:00 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 16, 11:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 00:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 295 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: 1419 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1215 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 7.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Charleston, WV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 17, 1:34 AM EDT, 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 1:34 AM EDT, 25 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 16, 11:35 PM EDT, 2 hours 24 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, May 17, 12:46 AM EDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 1:24 AM EDT, 35 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 1:29 AM EDT, 30 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 1:32 AM EDT, 27 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 1:33 AM EDT, 26 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 17, 1:35 AM EDT, 24 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 10:22 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Cabell	38 min
May 16, 11:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RLX	Wayne	30 min
May 16, 11:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Kanawha, Lincoln, Putnam, Roane	26 min
May 16, 11:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln, Mingo, Wayne	27 min
May 16, 11:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Kanawha, Nicholas and 1 more	30 min
May 16, 11:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, Putnam and 1 more	30 min
May 17, 12:08 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Nicholas, Webster	37 min
May 17, 12:13 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Clay, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, Nicholas	32 min
May 17, 12:43 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, Webster	32 min
May 17, 10:33 AM EDT	Areal Flood Warning	RLX	McDowell	9 hr
May 16, 10:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Perry	30 min
May 16, 10:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan, Perry, Vinton	23 min
May 16, 11:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan, Perry, Washington	31 min
May 16, 11:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Vinton	28 min
May 16, 11:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan, Washington	32 min
May 17, 12:01 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Athens, Morgan, Vinton, Washington	29 min
May 16, 9:53 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Boyd, Carter, Greenup	37 min
May 16, 10:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RLX	Carter	23 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 2025 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2025

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.