Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 39, NWS Blacksburg, VA

September 22, 1989Bland County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 22, 1989, 10:15 AM EDT for Bland County, Virginia. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 22, 1989, 10:15 AM EDT (14:15 UTC)
Expired: Sep 22, 1989, 1:45 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Bland 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, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 293 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 81 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 657 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 944 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 13.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KROA 221416
FFWROA
VAC021-221815-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
1015 AM EDT FRI SEP 22 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ROANOKE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
          ...BLAND
 
HUGO IS EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTHWARD ACROSS SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA DURING
THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND PASS IN THE VICINITY OF BLAND COUNTY. HEAVY
RAINS WILL CONTINUE THERE UNTIL EARLY AFTERNOON...CAUSING FLASH
FLOODING ON THE CREEKS AND STREAMS.
 
 
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO 6NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
JACKSON

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, Sep 22, 7:11 AM EDT, 3 hours 4 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LYNCHBURG VA
710 AM EDT FRI SEP 22 1989

...TROPICAL STORM HUGO NEAR CHARLOTTE NC...
...TORNADO..FLASH FLOOD AND HIGH WIND WATCHES IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA...

ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO SEVERE WEATHER INDICATED IN SOUTHCENTRAL
VIRGINIA AT THIS TIME..AS THE CENTER OF HUGO NEARS SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
THUNDERSTORMS..HEAVY RAIN AND WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH ARE
POSSIBLE. THE POSSIBLITY THAT THIS STORM MAY PRODIUCE TORNADOS CAN NOT
BE DISCOUNTED.

.RESIDENTS SHOULD LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND LOCAL MEDIA
THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

HUDGINS

Special weather statement, Sep 22, 9:32 AM EDT, 43 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LYNCHBURG VA
925 AM EDT FRI SEP 22 1989

...TROPICAL STORM HUGO NORTHWEST OF HICKORY NC...
...TORNADO..FLASH FLOOD AND HIGH WIND WATCHES IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA...

TROPCIAL STORM HUGO IS MOVING NORTHWARD ABOUT 30 MPH AND SHOULD PASS
WEST OF LYNCHBURG VA ABOUT MIDDAY..

THE RAPID MOVEMENT LESSENS THE CHANCE OF EXTENDED HEAVY RAINS OVER
SOUTHCENTRAL VIRGINIA TODAY BUT A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT

ALSO DUE TO THE RAPID MOVEMENT..WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH ARE
POSSIBLE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A TORNADO CANNOT BE DISCOUNTED UNTIL
THE STORM PASSES.

RESIDENTS SHOULD CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND
THE LOCAL MEDIA.

HUDGINS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 22, 9:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Carroll, Floyd, Grayson, Patrick, Pulaski, Wythe	4 hr
Sep 22, 9:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Craig, Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke	4 hr
Sep 22, 9:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Franklin	4 hr

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.