Clusters of showers and thunderstorms formed during the afternoon hours in the warm and moist air, ahead of a surface low pressure wave in the upper Ohio River Valley.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS RLX wrote it up.
Clusters of showers and thunderstorms formed during the afternoon hours in the warm and moist air, ahead of a surface low pressure wave in the upper Ohio River Valley.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at May 31, 2:22 PM EST, 2 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 322 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015 .SYNOPSIS... SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT EDGES ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT AND MONDAY. WEAK FLOW TUESDAY...SOME DRIER AIR SEEPS INTO OHIO RIVER VALLEY...BUT DEEPER MOISTURE LINGERS FURTHER SOUTH/EAST. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH MONDAY/... MODELS SHOWING A SLOWING COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA THIS EVENING FROM THE WEST. THIS FRONT WILL SLIDE VERY SLOWLY EASTWARD AND SOUTHWARD TONIGHT AND MONDAY. MOST OF THE UPPER AIR SUPPORT TONIGHT STAYS WELL TO THE NORTH OF THE REGION. THEREFORE WILL HAVE TO RELY MORE ON DIURNAL CONVECTION AND FORCING ALONG THE FRONT AS FOCUSING MECHANISMS. MODELS ARE NOW SHOWING A DISTURBANCE PROVIDING SOME LIFT NORTH OF THE FRONT ON MONDAY...SO WILL INCREASE POPS WITH THIS FEATURE. && .SHORT TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT/... FRONTAL BOUNDARY TRIES ITS BEST TO SLIP OUT OF THE CWA MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...BUT PROBABLY ENDS UP HANGING UP IN THE MTNS. THUS...CONVECTIVE CHANCES WILL CONTINUE...PREDOMINATELY E OF I79 AND DIURNALLY ENHANCED. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/... MODEL DIFFERENCES CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH PROGRESSION OF CUTOFF UPPER LOW...INITIALL OVER DEEP S. KEPT SOME MAINLY DIURNAL POPS IN THRU THE EXTENDED. && .AVIATION /19Z SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/... A SLOWING COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA THIS EVENING...VERY SLOWLY SLIDING EASTWARD AND SOUTHWARD TONIGHT AND MONDAY. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CAUSE RESTRICTIONS ALONG AND IN ADVANCE OF THE FRONT...WITH LOW CLOUDS AND SOME FOG POSSIBLE BEHIND THE FRONT. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND ALTERNATE SCENARIOS THROUGH 12Z MONDAY... FORECAST CONFIDENCE: MEDIUM. ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: TIMING OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD VARY. TIMING OF THE LOWERING CEILINGS ALONG AND BEHIND THE COLD FRONT COULD VARY. .AFTER 18Z MONDAY... IFR IN CEILINGS AND RAIN SHOWERS MONDAY AFTERNOON INTO TUESDAY MORNING NEAR THE STALLED FRONTAL BOUNDARY. && WV...NONE. OH...NONE. KY...NONE. VA...NONE. && .RLX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WV...NONE. OH...NONE. KY...NONE. VA...NONE. && SYNOPSIS...RPY/30 NEAR TERM...RPY SHORT TERM...30 LONG TERM...30 AVIATION...RPY
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV 448 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015 KYZ103-105-VAZ003-004-WVZ005>008-013>020-024>040-046-047-010900- BOYD-LAWRENCE KY-DICKENSON-BUCHANAN-WAYNE-CABELL-MASON-JACKSON WV- LINCOLN-PUTNAM-KANAWHA-ROANE-WIRT-CALHOUN-RITCHIE-DODDRIDGE-MINGO- LOGAN-BOONE-CLAY-BRAXTON-GILMER-LEWIS-HARRISON-TAYLOR-MCDOWELL- WYOMING-RALEIGH-FAYETTE-NICHOLAS-WEBSTER-UPSHUR-BARBOUR-POCAHONTAS- RANDOLPH- 448 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...WEST VIRGINIA...CENTRAL WEST VIRGINIA...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA...SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND WESTERN WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. DESPITE FAIRLY DRY SOIL CONDITIONS INITIALLY...A MOISTURE LADEN ATMOSPHERE WILL BE IN PLACE TODAY AND TONIGHT. LOCAL DOWNPOURS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE SHOWERS AND STORMS. SHOULD MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND STORMS CROSS THE SAME AREA...LOCALIZED FLOODING CONCERNS WILL INCREASE. AN AFTERNOON OR EVENING STORM COULD PULSE STRONG ENOUGH FOR A LOCAL STRONG WIND GUSTS OR LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. SOME HEAVIER SHOWERS MAY STILL BE AROUND ON MONDAY...ESPECIALLY OVER THE MOUNTAINOUS COUNTIES. SHOULD MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND STORMS CROSS THE SAME AREA...LOCALIZED FLOODING CONCERNS WILL INCREASE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. KYZ101-102-OHZ066-067-075-076-083>087-WVZ009>011-010900- GREENUP-CARTER-PERRY-MORGAN-ATHENS-WASHINGTON-JACKSON OH-VINTON- MEIGS-GALLIA-LAWRENCE OH-WOOD-PLEASANTS-TYLER- 448 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST KENTUCKY...SOUTHEAST OHIO AND NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
418 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015
WVZ017>019-312115-
CALHOUN-RITCHIE-WIRT-
418 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 2015
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT SOUTHERN RITCHIE...SOUTHEASTERN
WIRT AND NORTHWESTERN CALHOUN COUNTIES...
AT 417 PM EDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS 9 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
ELIZABETH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH AND HALF INCH HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS
STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
HARRISVILLE...MACFARLAN...CHERRY...MUNDAY...CRESTON...BURNT HOUSE...
ANNAMORIAH...BIG SPRINGS...BROHARD...LUCILLE AND SMITHVILLE.
LAT...LON 3924 8109 3907 8090 3901 8100 3901 8103
3899 8104 3887 8124 3888 8124 3889 8126
3890 8125 3891 8127 3891 8131 3890 8134
3891 8138 3895 8139
TIME...MOT...LOC 2017Z 230DEG 29KT 3894 8132
26The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:52 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown down onto power lines along Route 18. This caused power outages to a few hundred customers in the county. The estimated gust was around 45 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in West Virginia in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in West Virginia, May 2015
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 569025.