Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Blacksburg, VA

May 22, 1989Rockingham County, North Carolina

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at May 22, 1989, 10:48 PM EDT for Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 22, 1989, 10:48 PM EDT (02:48 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1989, 1:45 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Rockingham County, NC

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

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 326 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 00:00Z on 1989-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 00:00Z on 1989-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
150 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 KGSO 230309
FFWGSO
NCC157-230545-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENSBORO NC
1048 PM EDT MON MAY 22 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENSBORO HAS ISSUED A
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
          ...ROCKINGHAM
 
AT 1045 PM THE ROCKINGHAM COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED ROADS
FLOODED AROUND THE REIDSVILLE AREA. RADAR SHOWS THAT THUNDERSTORMS
WILL CONTINUE OVER THE COUNTY FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
 
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

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 22, 9:24 PM EDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
920 PM   EDT  MON MAY 22 1989

AT 915 PM RADAR SHOWS SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN
SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA. THE STRONGIST ONES
AT 915 WERE IN GRAIG AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES. SOME OF THESE
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD CAUSE A HALF TO THREE QUARTERS INCHES
OF RAIN TO FALL IN A SHORT TIME. THIS COULD CAUSE SOME SMALL
STREAM, LOW AREA, URBAN FLOODING THAT HAS POOR DiRAINAGE.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH
AND WILL BE MOVING INTO ROANOKE COUNTY WITH IN THE HOUR.

CE
Special weather statement, May 22, 10:00 PM EDT, 48 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROANOKE VA
1000 PM  EDT  MON MAY 22 1989

AT 955 PM RADAR SHOWS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM EASTERN
CRAIG CENTRAL ROANOKE EASTERN FLOYD AND NORTHERN PATRICK
COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA. THESE THUNDERSTORM ARE MOVING EASTWARD
AND COULD PRODUCE VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
AND GUSTY WINDS. THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD ALSO HAVE SMALL
HAIL.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOVING INTO FRANKLIN AND BOTETOURT
COUNTIES.

CE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 9:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKCaswell, Forsyth, Rockingham57 min
May 22, 9:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKDavie, Iredell57 min
May 23, 3:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKIredell, Rowan62 min
May 23, 4:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKGuilford68 min
May 23, 4:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningRNKAlamance68 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1989Every 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.