Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 101, NWS Blacksburg, VA

September 10, 1996Appomattox County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 10, 1996, 7:57 PM EDT for Appomattox County, Virginia. 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 10, 1996, 7:57 PM EDT (23:57 UTC)
Expired
Sep 10, 1996, 11:55 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Appomattox County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:54 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 64 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1996-09-10Temperature 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, Roanoke, VA at 12:00Z on 1996-09-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 8 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
1027 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
7 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 KROA 102358
FFWRNK
VAC011-110400-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING - SMALL STREAMS AND ROADWAYS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
757 PM EDT TUE SEP 10 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1155 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA

   ...APPOMATTOX COUNTY

AT 7:53 PM WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A CLUSTER OF
THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL APPOMATTOX COUNTY HAD PRODUCED AN
ESTIMATED 2 TO 2.5 INCHES OF RAIN FROM 6:50 TO 7:50 PM.  WITH
GROUNDS REMAINING SATURATED, THIS RAIN WILL LIKELY CAUSE FLOODING
OF STREAMS AND ROADWAYS IN AND AROUND APPOMATTOX.
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS ATx NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGER OF FLOODING. MOVE TO A SAFE LOCATION IF RISING WATERS
THREATEN

GILLEN

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.

NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 10, 2:42 PM EDT, 5 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 10, 2:42 PM EDT, 5 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
240 PM EDT TUE SEP 10 1996

CRW AND WBC...THNKS FOR THE CALLS.

RUSH JOB HERE...
DIDNT EXPECT SO MANY CELLS OVR THE MTNS THIS AFTN BUT LATEST NGM 6-HR
SHOWS AN AXIS OF 850 MOISTR CONVERGNC RIGHT ALONG THE APPS TO
COINCIDE WITH THE THTE AXIS. OTHERWISE THINGS GOING AS EXPECTED.

THINGS DO NOT CHANGE DRAMATICALLY NEXT 48 HRS AS MOISTR REMAINS
FAIRLY CONSTANT ACROSS THE AREA..HOWEVER UVVS SLOWLY SHIFT TO THE
EAST WITH S/WV OVER THE SOUTHEAST.

WE SHUD SEE PLENTY OF CLOUDS THRU THE PD BUT FWC AND FAN DECREASE
POPS FOR TMRW FOR ALL BUT DANVILLE. AM LEANING TOWARD NO POPS TMRW
AND TMRW NIGHT BUT ITS A TUF CALL. THNK WE AT LEAST NEED TO
KEEP SOME POPS IN FOR TMRW IN MY FAR SE COUNTIES.

TEMPS SHUD REMAIN SIMILAR TO MOS...MAYBE A BIT COOLER EAST OF MTNS
WITH LOW LVL ME FLOW.

ROA 64/80/62/79 3223
BCB 60/76/58/77 3223
JDS

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 1996Every 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.