Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1990

Flash Flood Warning 42, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

October 12, 1990Watauga County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Oct 12, 1990, 3:58 PM EDT for Watauga County, North Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Oct 12, 1990, 3:58 PM EDT (19:58 UTC)
Expired
Oct 12, 1990, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Watauga 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 162 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1990-10-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 92 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1990-10-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 86 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
92 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
590 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAVL 121958
FFWAVL
NCC189-122300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
358 PM EDT FRI OCT 12 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      WATAUGA

RADIO STATION WATA IN BOONE MEASURED ABOUT THREE INCHES OF RAIN
DURING THE DAY. SEVERAL STREAMS ARE OUT OF THEIR BANKS AND SOME
WATER COVERED ROADS ARE CLOSED. MORE HEAVY RAIN WILL CAUSE
ADDITIONAL FLOODING THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
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.

 THIS WARNING REPLACES AN EARLIER WaARNING THAT EXPIRED AT 400 PM.
 SCOTT

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, Oct 12, 10:21 AM EDT, 5 hours 37 minutes before
NCZ007-008-121500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLOTTE NC
1015 AM EDT FRI OCT 12 1990

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY BECOMING CONCENTRATED OVER A PORTION
OF THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA AND ADJACENT SOUTH
CAROLINA...

AT 1010 THIS MORNING WEATHER RADAR SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY
HEAVY RAIN OVER LINCOLN COUNTY OF NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTH ACROSS
WESTERN YORK COUNTY AND EASTERN CHEROKEE COUNTIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

...THESE COUNTIES ARE ALL WEST OF THE CATAWBA RIVER AND GENERALLY
WEST OF I-77 THROUGH CHARLOTTE...

TWO AREAS OF QUITE HEAVY RAIN WERE NOTED... THE FIRST WAS OVER
EXTREME NORTHEASTERN GASTON COUNTY AND MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARD EASTERN
LINCOLN  COUNTY AND THE CENTRAL AND UPPER PORTIONS OF LAKE NORMAN.

THE SECOND AREA OF VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS OVER SOUTHWESTERN GASTON
COUNTY AND APPROACHING GASTONIA.

THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IN YORK AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES WAS
INCREASING IN INTENSITY AS IT MOVED TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 40
MILES AN HOUR.  GASTON AND LINCOLN COUNTIES WILL LIKELY HAVE HEAVY
RAIN FROM THESE SOUTH CAROLINA STORMS THROUGH THE NOON HOUR TODAY.

AS THUNDERSTORMS MOVE THROUGH LINCOLN AND GASTON COUNTIES RAINFALL
WILL BE QUITE HEAVY FOR SHORT INTERVALS.  THE GROUND IS WELL
SATURATED AND RUNOFF WILL BE RAPID.  PROBLEMS OF HIGH WATER WILL BE
COMPOUNDED BY THE FACT THAT SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL PASS THROUGH
ANY GIVEN AREA.

EVERYONE IN LINCOLN AND GASTON uCOUNTIES AND ALONG THE CENTRAL AND
UPPER PORTIONS OF LAKE NORMAN MUST BE ALERT FOR RAPID INCREASES IN
WATER LEVELS... DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS THROUGH
NOON TODAY.

RK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 12, 10:02 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAvery4 hr
Oct 12, 12:27 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPGaston, Mecklenburg4 hr
Oct 12, 1:00 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPWatauga3 hr
Oct 12, 2:23 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAvery4 hr
Oct 12, 2:23 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPWatauga97 min
Oct 12, 3:17 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAshe4 hr
Oct 12, 3:34 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPBurke4 hr
Oct 12, 4:55 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPPolk, Rutherford2 hr
Oct 12, 5:55 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPCleveland2 hr
Oct 12, 6:37 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPGaston2 hr
Oct 12, 7:03 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAvery, Burke, Caldwell, McDowell3 hr
Oct 12, 7:08 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPPolk, Rutherford2 hr
Oct 12, 7:25 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPWatauga3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1990Every flash flood warning in 1990

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.