Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2026

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 94, NWS Charleston, WV

May 20, 20265 counties in West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 2026, 7:31 PM EDT for 5 counties in West Virginia. It was in force for 44 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 20, 2026, 7:31 PM EDT (23:31 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2026, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Storm-based polygon
Hail: 0.75 in
Wind: 60.0 mph

Counties Barbour County, WV, Harrison County, WV, Lewis County, WV, Randolph County, WV, Upshur County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 154 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:31 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 20, 3:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 155 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: 279 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 671 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

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 20, 7:28 PM EDT, 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 7:28 PM EDT, 3 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, May 20, 7:04 PM EDT, 27 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 20, 7:11 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 20, 7:11 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 20, 7:19 PM EDT, 12 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 20, 7:25 PM EDT, 6 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 20, 7:26 PM EDT, 5 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 20, 10:07 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Pleasants, Wood	38 min
May 20, 10:44 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Pleasants, Tyler	31 min
May 20, 11:20 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Tyler	25 min
May 20, 11:31 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Harrison	14 min
May 20, 11:42 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Pleasants	18 min
May 20, 12:18 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Gilmer, Lewis	27 min
May 20, 12:45 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Lewis	30 min
May 20, 12:50 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Barbour	25 min
May 20, 1:08 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Upshur	22 min
May 20, 1:15 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Barbour	15 min
May 20, 1:29 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Upshur	16 min
May 20, 2:36 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Cabell	24 min
May 20, 3:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell, Lincoln, Wayne	25 min
May 20, 3:33 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Putnam	27 min
May 20, 3:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell, Lincoln, Wayne	34 min
May 20, 3:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Putnam	41 min
May 20, 3:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Wayne	33 min
May 20, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Jackson, Kanawha, Putnam	40 min
May 20, 4:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Wayne	24 min
May 20, 4:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	RLX	Kanawha, Putnam	20 min
May 20, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lincoln, Wayne	30 min
May 20, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RLX	Clay, Kanawha, Roane	51 min
May 20, 4:48 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Mingo	27 min
May 20, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Lincoln, Wayne	34 min
May 20, 5:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Gilmer, Lewis	30 min
May 20, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo	30 min
May 20, 5:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	RLX	Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Kanawha, Roane	57 min
May 20, 5:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Lewis, Upshur, Webster	26 min
May 20, 5:37 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Lincoln	23 min
May 20, 5:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Lewis, Randolph, Upshur, Webster	36 min
May 20, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Webster	49 min
May 20, 6:01 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Kanawha	14 min
May 20, 6:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone, Kanawha, Raleigh	33 min
May 20, 6:27 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Randolph	18 min
May 20, 6:35 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Wayne	10 min
May 20, 6:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Braxton, Lewis, Randolph, Upshur, Webster	51 min
May 20, 6:40 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Randolph	20 min
May 20, 6:41 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Raleigh	19 min
May 20, 6:54 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Lewis	36 min
May 20, 7:11 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Upshur	34 min
May 20, 7:25 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Doddridge	35 min
May 20, 7:57 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Harrison	33 min
May 19, 9:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Perry	48 min
May 19, 10:16 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Perry	44 min
May 19, 10:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Morgan, Perry	48 min
May 19, 11:16 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Morgan	29 min
May 20, 8:40 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Vinton	20 min
May 20, 9:14 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Meigs	16 min
May 20, 9:17 AM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Athens	13 min
May 20, 2:41 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Lawrence	19 min
May 20, 2:47 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Carter	13 min
May 20, 2:59 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Boyd, Carter, Lawrence	31 min
May 20, 3:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Carter, Lawrence	32 min
May 20, 3:47 PM EDT	Special Weather Statement	RLX	Lawrence	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 2026 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2026

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.