Special Weather Statement

NWS Blacksburg VA · US

New

Details

Strong Thunderstorms Will Impact Ashe...Alleghany...Surry...Wilkes And Watauga Counties In Northwestern North Carolina...Pulaski...Floyd...Carroll...Grayson... Patrick And Montgomery Counties In Southwestern Virginia...The City Of Radford And The City Of Galax Through 300 PM EDT

Event: Special Weather Statement
Issued: 2026-09-21 18:08:00 UTC
Onset: 2026-09-21 18:08:00 UTC
Message expires: 2026-09-21 19:00:00 UTC
Category: Meteorological
Urgency: Expected
Severity: Moderate
Certainty: Observed
Response: Execute

Description

Overview

At 204 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms developing along the Blue Ridge and eastern New River Valley. Movement was generally southeast at 5 to 10 mph, but some of the storms were also redeveloping over the same areas which may promote localized heavy rainfall.

Hazard

Wind gusts up to 50 mph and half inch hail. Heavy Rain.

Source

Radar indicated.

Impacts

Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is possible. Poor drainage flooding may occur from heavy rain. Locations impacted include... Blacksburg... Christiansburg... Boone... Radford... Mount Airy... Pulaski... and Galax.

Instructions

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with some of these storms. Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe shelter inside a building or vehicle.

Affected areas

Ashe County, NC
Alleghany County, NC
Surry County, NC
Watauga County, NC
Wilkes County, NC
Pulaski County, VA
Montgomery County, VA
Grayson County, VA
Carroll County, VA
Floyd County, VA
Patrick County, VA

Public contact

Issuer: NWS Blacksburg VA
Website: http://www.weather.gov

Message record

Received: 2026-09-21 18:08:48 UTC
Issue to receipt: ~48s
CAP status: Actual
CAP message type: Alert
Lifecycle: New
Source: NWWS-OI
Feed: NWWS
Recovered: No

CAP routing and identity

ULID: 01M32JG07DD15K8CCTPETXTZH8
Identifier: urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.630788b2d1717be6f2f10490e18f252f46edb588.001.1
Sender: w-nws.webmaster@noaa.gov
Scope: Public
CAP source: 211803 v2.3.0
Handling codes: IPAWSv1.0
Issuing office: NWS Blacksburg VA
AWIPS ID: CAPRNK
NWWS sequence: nwws_processor.137
WMO heading: XOUS51
WMO data type: CAP alert message XML (XO)
WMO geography: United States (US)
WMO bulletin number: 51

Event codes

Name	Value
SAME	SPS
NationalWeatherService	SPS

Parameters

Name	Value
AWIPSidentifier	SPSRNK
WMOidentifier	WWUS81 KRNK 211808
NWSheadline	STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL IMPACT ASHE...ALLEGHANY...SURRY...WILKES AND WATAUGA COUNTIES IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...PULASKI...FLOYD...CARROLL...GRAYSON... PATRICK AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA...THE CITY OF RADFORD AND THE CITY OF GALAX THROUGH 300 PM EDT
eventMotionDescription	2026-09-21T18:04:00-00:00...storm...308DEG...6KT...36.82,-80.65 36.16,-81.35
maxWindGust	50 MPH
maxHailSize	0.50
BLOCKCHANNEL	EAS
BLOCKCHANNEL	NWEM
EAS-ORG	WXR
BLOCKCHANNEL	CMAS

Locations

Location data

Ashe County, NC
Alleghany County, NC
Surry County, NC
Watauga County, NC
Wilkes County, NC
Pulaski County, VA
Montgomery County, VA
Grayson County, VA
Carroll County, VA
Floyd County, VA
Patrick County, VA

Name	Value
SAME	037009
SAME	037005
SAME	037171
SAME	037189
SAME	037193
SAME	051155
SAME	051750
SAME	051121
SAME	051077
SAME	051035
SAME	051640
SAME	051063
SAME	051141
UGC	NCZ001
UGC	NCZ002
UGC	NCZ003
UGC	NCZ018
UGC	NCZ019
UGC	VAZ013
UGC	VAZ014
UGC	VAZ015
UGC	VAZ016
UGC	VAZ017
UGC	VAZ032

Polygons: 36.12,-81.81 36.21,-81.91 36.34,-81.85 36.34,-81.71 36.7,-81.54 36.8,-81.05 36.73,-80.98 36.88,-80.74 37.11,-80.93 37.34,-80.27 37.34,-80.26 37.03,-80.1 36.87,-80.23 36.8,-80.04 36.54,-80.05 36.55,-80.44 36.24,-80.45 36.24,-80.87 36.06,-80.88 36.0,-81.32 36.12,-81.81