Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS Raleigh, NC

September 4, 1996Davidson County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Sep 4, 1996, 8:50 AM EDT for Davidson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 4, 1996, 8:50 AM EDT (12:50 UTC)
Expired: Sep 4, 1996, 1:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Davidson County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:50 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 43 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: 730 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 14 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 KRDU 041255 COR
FFWRDU
NCC057-041700-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM NC
850 AM EDT WED SEP 4 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH/DURHAM HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

   ...DAVIDSON COUNTY

AT 850 AM SOME SECONDARY BRIDGES IN NORTHEAST DAVIDSON COUNTY CONTINUE
UNDER WATER DUE TO EXCESSIVE HEAVY RAINS LATE TUESDAY. WATERS IN MANY
AREAS HAVE SLOWLY RECEEDED HOWEVER PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS IN LOW
LYING AREAS WILL PERSIST THROUGHOUT THE MORNING.

ADDITIONAL RAIN IS APPROACHING THE AREA FROM THE WEST AT THIS TIME.
MODERATE RAINS MAY BEGIN FALLING IN THE THE HEAVILY SOAKED NORTHEAST
PART OF THE COUNTY BY 11 AM...WITH MANY CREEKS AND STREAMS AGAIN LEAVING
THEIR BANKS. FURTHER SOUTH...RUNOFF FROM THE NORTH WILL SWELL LOCAL CREE
AND STREAMS AS THEY ATTEMPT TO DRAIN THEIR WATERS INTO THE YADKIN RIVER
BASIN.

REMEMBER...75 PERCENT OF ALL FLOOD RELATED DEATHS RESULT FROM
PEOPLE DRIVING INTO FLOOD WATERS OR CHILDREN PLAYING NEAR FLOODED
CREEKS OR STORM DRAINS.  AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOOD WATERS EVEN IF
THEY APPEAR SHALLOW AND KEEP CHILDREN AWAY FROM FLOOD WATERS.

DRIVERS ALONG SECONDARY, COUNTY, AND DIRT OR GRAVEL ROADS NEED TO
TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTION BECAUSE OF THE FLOOD POTENTIAL.  IF
YOUR VEHICLE STALLS IN WATER, ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK
HIGHER GROUND.  CAMPERS NEAR SRTREAMS ARE ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE AND
SHOULD MOVE AWAY FROM LOW LYING AREAS NOW.

COR FOR FLOOD WARNING WORDING

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 3, 8:21 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Davidson	2 hr
Sep 3, 9:32 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Stanly	118 min
Sep 3, 10:31 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Davidson	119 min
Sep 4, 12:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Davidson	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1996 Every flash flood warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.