Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia
9,310 severe thunderstorm warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.
- Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
- 9,310
- Busiest year
- 2026589 severe thunderstorm warnings
- Average year
- 227over 41 years on file
Over time
By year
Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with the weather.
By month of the year
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
From 2008 to 2025, 75% of hail, wind and damage reports in West Virginia fell inside a severe thunderstorm warning issued on average 21 minutes before, and 32% of the severe thunderstorm warnings had no report inside them.
Severe thunderstorm warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 374 | 218 | 42% | 307 | 79% | 23 min |
| 2009 | 220 | 112 | 49% | 229 | 78% | 24 min |
| 2010 | 269 | 183 | 32% | 295 | 83% | 25 min |
| 2011 | 454 | 314 | 31% | 543 | 80% | 22 min |
| 2012 | 339 | 234 | 31% | 422 | 75% | 24 min |
| 2013 | 222 | 160 | 28% | 286 | 76% | 22 min |
| 2014 | 214 | 146 | 32% | 350 | 76% | 19 min |
| 2015 | 200 | 142 | 29% | 307 | 83% | 24 min |
| 2016 | 295 | 224 | 24% | 445 | 81% | 18 min |
| 2017 | 190 | 142 | 25% | 321 | 69% | 19 min |
| 2018 | 219 | 144 | 34% | 239 | 69% | 17 min |
| 2019 | 395 | 242 | 39% | 450 | 79% | 21 min |
| 2020 | 280 | 193 | 31% | 431 | 75% | 21 min |
| 2021 | 302 | 196 | 35% | 337 | 70% | 18 min |
| 2022 | 361 | 257 | 29% | 617 | 75% | 21 min |
| 2023 | 243 | 193 | 21% | 481 | 69% | 20 min |
| 2024 | 335 | 209 | 38% | 671 | 65% | 23 min |
| 2025 | 420 | 321 | 24% | 895 | 75% | 20 min |
Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.
Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Kanawha County725
- Jefferson County586
- Berkeley County573
- Hampshire County528
- Lincoln County507
- Wayne County507
- Putnam County505
- Mason County497
- Jackson County494
- Hancock County483
- Roane County461
- Preston County445
- Cabell County438
- Boone County432
- Marshall County424
- Hardy County423
- Brooke County417
- Monongalia County401
- Morgan County388
- Braxton County387
- Logan County385
- Fayette County373
- Ritchie County373
- Nicholas County365
- Clay County364
- Wood County362
- Greenbrier County355
- Monroe County351
- Ohio County347
- Mingo County344
- Lewis County339
- Mineral County331
- Calhoun County330
- Randolph County330
- Raleigh County326
- Gilmer County322
- Harrison County310
- Webster County308
- Marion County305
- Wetzel County304
The latest severe thunderstorm warnings
The most recent on file, newest first.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 8:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Braxton, Clay, Nicholas, Webster | 35 min |
| Sep 21, 7:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Logan | 11 min |
| Sep 21, 7:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Logan | 34 min |
| Sep 21, 6:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Mingo, Wayne | 34 min |
| Sep 21, 6:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Cabell, Lincoln, Logan, Wayne | 34 min |
| Sep 21, 6:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Pocahontas, Randolph | 23 min |
| Sep 21, 5:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Wayne | 35 min |
| Sep 21, 5:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Mercer, Monroe, Summers | 60 min |
| Sep 21, 5:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Raleigh | 30 min |
| Sep 21, 4:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Greenbrier, Summers | 63 min |
| Sep 21, 4:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Fayette | 25 min |
| Sep 21, 4:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RLX | Fayette, Raleigh | 26 min |
Nearby
Sources
National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.