Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1994

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Morristown, TN

March 28, 1994City of Norton, Virginia

NWS Morristown, TN issued this flash flood warning at Mar 28, 1994, 12:38 AM EST for City of Norton, Virginia. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 28, 1994, 12:38 AM EST (05:38 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1994, 8:45 AM EST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Whole counties

County City of Norton, VA

The nearest sounding before it

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 00:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 160 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: 526 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 81 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 52 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 KTRI 280542
FFWTRI
VAC027-051-105-167-169-173-185-191-195-520-720-281345-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BRISTOL TN
1238 AM EST MON MAR 28 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BRISTOL HAS ISSUED A
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  845 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
 
   ...BUCHANAN COUNTY...DICKENSON COUNTY...LEE COUNTY
   ...RUSSELL COUNTY...SCOTT COUNTY...SMYTH COUNTY...TAZEWELL COUNTY
   ...WASHINGTON COUNTY...WISE COUNTY
 
  AND THE INDEPENDENT CITIES OF
 
   ...CITY OF BRISTOL
   ...CITY OF NORTON
 
OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS, RAINFALL TOTALS IN MOST OF VIRGINIA HAVE
AVERAGED 2 TO 4 INCHES. MANY STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE AT BANKFULL OR ARE
FLOODING. MANY ROADS HAVE BEEN CLOSED AND EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ARE
STANDING BY IN CASE EVACUATIONS ARE ORDERED. HEAVY RAIN REMAINS TO THE
WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF THE LOCAL AREA, SO CONDITIONS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO
IMPROVE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
 
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 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

Local storm report, Mar 27, 6:56 PM EST, 5 hours 42 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHATTANOOGA TN
655 PM EST SUN MAR 27 1994

NORTHWEST GEORGIA

SOURCE OF REPORT  GEORGIA HIGHWAY PATROL
OCCURRENCE        THUNDERSTORM WINDS
DATE AND TIME     03/27/94  615 PM EST
COUNTY            WHITFIELD COUNTY...TREES DOWN ALONG CROW VALLEY ROAD
                  NEAR ROCKY FACE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 12:38 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	MRX	Lee, Russell, Scott, Washington, Wise	8 hr
Mar 28, 12:38 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	MRX	City of Bristol	8 hr
Mar 28, 12:38 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	MRX	Smyth, Tazewell	8 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 1994 Every flash flood warning in 1994

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.