Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 5, 1989Franklin County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at May 5, 1989, 7:49 PM EDT for Franklin County, Virginia. It was in force for 116 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 1989, 7:49 PM EDT (23:49 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1989, 9:45 PM EDT
In force: 116 min
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Franklin County, VA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 101 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 239 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KROA 052352
FFWROA
VAC067-060145-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
749 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ROANOKE HAS ISSUED A
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
          ...FRANKLIN
 
THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE PAST TWO HOURS IN FRANKLIN COUNTY HAVE
BROUGHT CREEKS AND SMALL STREAMS TO BANKFULL. RADAR INDICATES SOME
MORE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WILL PASS THROUGH FRANKLIN COUNTY
DURING THE NEXT TWO HOURS. THIS WILL CAUSE SMALL STREAMS AND LOW LYING
AREAS TO FLOOD.
 
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 5, 7:21 PM EDT, 28 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
715 PM   EDT  FRI MAY 5 1989

...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR
THE COUNTIES OF GILES MONTGOMERY FLOYD CARROLL AND ALL
COUNTIES WEST OF THESE COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA...

AT 710 PM RADAR AND IFLOWS GAUGES SHOWS SOME HEAVY RAIN IN PORTIONS
OF SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA. RADAR SHOWS SOME HEAVY
SHOWERS FROM A LINE FROM CARROLL COUNTY NORTHEAST THROUGH ROANOKE
COUNTY...ALSO FROM NORTHERN HENRY COUNTY NORTHEAST THROUGH BEDFORD
COUNTY. IN SOME OF THESE AREAS IFLOWS SHOW RAINFALL FROM 1/2 INCH TO
NEARLY AN INCH OF RAIN FALLING WITHIN AN HOUR. THIS COULD CAUSE SOME
FLOODING ON SOME SMALL STREAMS AND LOW wAREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE. ALSO
SOME URBAN FOODING COULD OCCUR.

PERSONS LIVING IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ALERT IN CASE FLOODING BEGINS.

CE

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 1989 Every flash flood warning in 1989

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.