Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 3, 1997Smyth County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Mar 3, 1997, 10:50 AM EST for Smyth 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
Mar 3, 1997, 10:50 AM EST (15:50 UTC)
Expired
Mar 3, 1997, 2:50 PM EST
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area
Whole counties

County Smyth County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:51 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, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 169 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-03-03Temperature 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, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-03-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 389 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
588 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
82 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
389 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
457 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KROA 031551
FFWRNK
VAC173-031950-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1050 AM EST MON MAR 3 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 250 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN SMYTH COUNTY
 
AT 1049 AM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED HEAVY RAIN ACROSS THE
COUNTY AND COUNTY OFFICIALS REPORTED SMALLf STREAMS ACROSS THE AREA
AT BANKFULL WITH HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL 1115 AM
FLOODING IS IMMINENT...

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!
 
MV/MG

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.