Alert archive / South Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

February 28, 1997Pickens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Feb 28, 1997, 2:48 PM EST for Pickens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 3 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
Feb 28, 1997, 2:48 PM EST (19:48 UTC)
Expired
Feb 28, 1997, 5:45 PM EST
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Pickens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:49 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 235 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-02-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 328 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-02-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 223 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
328 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
478 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
255 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSP 282021
FFWGSP
SCC077-282245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...RETRANSMITTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
248 PM EST FRI FEB 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN  SOUTH CAROLINA

   ...PICKENS COUNTY

CREEKS AND STREAMS WERE RISING ACROSS PICKENS COUNTY...IN RESPONSE TO
THE HEAVY RAIN OF THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON. AS OF 245 PM...FLOODING
WAS REPORTED ON PARTS OF HIGHWAYS 183...35...AND 123. NUMEROUS CREEKS
AND STREAMS WERE BANKFUL.

MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE IN PICKENS COUNTY FOR MUCH OF
THE AFTERNOON. CREEKS AND STREAMS WILL RISE OUT OF THEIR BANKS AND
FLOOD.

MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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...OJN FOOT.

ZOLTOWSKI

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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Feb 28, 1:36 PM EST, 1 hour 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 28, 1:36 PM EST, 1 hour 12 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE/SPARTANBURG, SC
136 PM EST FRI FEB 28 1997

RAH: FFA PROBABLY NOT NEEDED TONIGHT.
CAE: FLASH FLOOD VALUES COULD BE REACHED IN THE NRN HALF OF UPSTATE
     TONIGHT. MAY WANT TO CONSIDER A WATCH.
FFC: AGREE WITH FFA THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.

SURFACE BOUNDARY STILL LOOPED ALONG NC/TN BORDER AND NC/VA BORDER ATTM.
WATER VAPOR SHOWS DRY MID-LEVEL AIR PUNCHING EAST ACROSS TN AND IS
PUSHING PLUME OF MOISTURE FURTHER TO THE EAST. STILL ABUNDANT RAIN AND
EVEN THUNDER ROLLING THROUGH EASTERN GA AND UPSTATE...WITH LITTLE
RELIEF IN SIGHT. NEW CONVECTION FIRING IN SRN AL AND LOOKS TO BE HEADED
RIGHT FOR NE GA AND THE UPSTATE FOR THIS EVENING. RAINFALL BECOMING
MORE SCATTERED ACROSS NC MTNS. HOWEVER...WE HAVE HAD FLOODING IN
HAYWOOD AND JACKSON COUNTIES.

FEEL AXIS OF SHOWERS/TSTMS WILL BECOME SW TO NE ACROSS NE GA...THE
UPSTATE AND THROUGH THE CLT AREA TONIGHT. RAINFALL SHOULD EXPAND BACK
NORTH ACROSS THE NC MTNS SATURDAY IN RESPONSE TO FIRST WAVE MOVING
NORTH THROUGH THE UPPER MS VALLEY. SHOWER/TSTMS SHOULD CONTINUE
SATURDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE ACTIVITY WANES SLIGHTLY AS THE MAIN VORT
CENTER GATHERS AND FOCUS ENERGY IN THE TN VALLEY EARLY SUNDAY...THEN
KICKS TSTMS EAST ACROSS THIS CWA SUNDAY AFTN.

TEMPS SHOWING LITTLE DIURNAL RANGE CONSIDERING AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER
AND PRECIPITATION.

AVL 54/62/56/62  5/7/7/8
CLT 61/68/62/70  +/7/6/7
GSP 59/67/60/69  +/7/7/7

MOYER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 28, 2:42 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningGSPGreenville3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in South Carolina, 1997Every flash flood warning in 1997

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.