It's the same as well with a p for the second L. Welp, that explains it.

It is "well..." followed by a disappointing situation. Say you're about to witness an unfortunate loss at a ball game. "Welp; I guess that's it, then."

If you pronounce (or perhaps more accurately fail to pronounce) the L following a vowel as a “dark L” - almost impossible to describe in writing but it makes the L more like a W - then “well!” Sounds a bit more like “wow!” There a natural tendency to follow that with a consonant so in some English accents “well” can sound a bit like “wowp” or “wowm”, especially in sentences such as “wowp, muss make a move, ‘aven’t go’ aw day to si’ ‘ere natterin’”

To answer your confusion ... a "whelp" is a young wolf. :)

It’s the written equivalent of starting a sentence with “well” while simultaneously raising your eyebrows to signal an undesirable sotuation has occurred.

I looked it up because even I knew what it was and I always feel really old talking to the younguns. The earliest recorded use of the word welp was in 1946. It became popular in the 90s with that stupid movie Dumb and Dumber. Anyway, it's just another way to say "well." The word "whelp" means to give birth to puppies.

Anyways……….

Tell me you're not from the midwest without telling me you're not from the midwest.

It’s a pause. Often used to indicate that what the person is about to say is negative or to simply punctuate dead space.

It is used for well because if you start a text with well, spellcheck will change it to we’ll