Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1990

Flash Flood Warning 67, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

December 23, 1990Swain County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Dec 23, 1990, 4:39 PM EST for Swain County, North Carolina. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 23, 1990, 4:39 PM EST (21:39 UTC)
Expired
Dec 23, 1990, 6:45 PM EST
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Swain 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

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 172 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1990-12-23Temperature 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1990-12-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 365 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
365 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
381 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 KAVL 232139
FFWAVL
NCC173-232345-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
439 PM EST SUN DEC 23 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
      SWAIN

AT 430 PM THE SWAIN COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE REPORTED THAT PARTS OF
THE DEEP CREEK AND BEAR HUNTER CAMPGROUNDS WERE FLOODED AND THAT
LANDS CREEK WEST OF BRYSON CITY WAS OUT OF IT`S BANKS.

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.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY..THE WATER DEPTH MAU BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOU TO CROSS
SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED
QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

MOORE

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, Dec 23, 4:34 PM EST, 5 minutes before
SCZ001>004-232300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
430 PM EST SUN DEC 23 1990

...THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...

AT 430 PM EST A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS CROSSING NORTHEAST
GEORGIA...AND EXTENDED ROUGHLY FROM CLAYTON TO ATLANTA.  THE
THUNDERSTROMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST 10 TO 15 MILES AN HOUR.

LIGHT RAIN HAS BEEN FALLING IN THE SOUTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS
MOST OF THE DAY.

THE THUNDERSTONS WILL BRING HEAVY RAIN AND BRIEF STRONG GUSTY
WIND INTO OCONEE COUNTY OF SOUTH CAROLINA BETWEEN 5 AND 6 PM.
THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY REACH PICKENS AND ANDERSON COUNTIES BY
7 OCLOCK THIS EVENING.
MUSGROVE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 23, 2:21 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningGSPCherokee3 hr
Dec 23, 3:09 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningGSPClay2 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.