Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

January 8, 1998Caldwell County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jan 8, 1998, 4:05 AM EST for Caldwell 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: Jan 8, 1998, 4:05 AM EST (09:05 UTC)
Expired: Jan 8, 1998, 8:00 AM EST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Caldwell County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:04 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 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 203 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 564 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 199 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSP 080905
FFWGSP
NCC023-027-111-149-161-081300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
405 AM EST THU JAN 8 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN WEST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...BURKE COUNTY...CALDWELL COUNTY...MCDOWELL COUNTY
   ...POLK COUNTY...RUTHERFORD COUNTY
 
RECENT CALLS TO COUNTY OFFICIALS HAS REVEALED THAT FLOODING CONTINUES
ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS OF NORTH CAROLINA AND WATER LEVELS CONTINUE TO
RISE. MANY ROADS ARE CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER AND MANY RIVERS AND
STREAMS ARE OUT OF THEIR BANKS.
 
AT 4 AM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED ANOTHER ROUND OF RAIN MOVING NORTH
INTO THE NORTH CAROLINA FOOTHILLS FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. SOME OF THE RAIN
COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES WITH ANOTHER INCH OF RAIN LIKELY ACROSS MUCH
OF THE REGION DURING THE PRE-DAWN HOURS. THIS ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL
ONLY WORSEN ANY FLOODING PROBLEMS.
 
ANYONE DRIVING ACROSS BRIDGES WHICH ARE UNDER WATER SHOULD
BE ADVISED THAT SOMETIMES THE ROADS NEAR THE BRIDGES WASH OUT.
IF YOU DRIVE NEAR THE BRIDGES...YOU MAY SINK INTO THE WASHED
OUT AREA AND LOSE YOUR VEHICLE. DO NOT RISK YOUR LIFE OR
VEHICLE...CHOOSE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE INSTEAD.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR LATER
STATEMENTS.
 
MOYER

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 Jan 8, 2:40 AM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 8, 2:40 AM EST, 1 hour 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
240 AM EST THU JAN 8 1998

RAH: KEEP FFA TO CURRENT EXPIRATION.
CAE/FFC: EXTEND FFA TO 1 PM.

VERY BUSY WEATHER NIGHT. WILL TRY TO BE BRIEF. SEVERE WEATHER THREAT
COMING TO AN END AS MESO LOW AND ASSOCIATED TSRA MOVING OUT OF CWA.
LOTS OF RAINFALL STILL TO OUR SOUTH AND WEST. UPR LOW OPENS AND MOVES
NE TODAY. DRYING OCCURS IN MID LEVELS BUT LOW LEVELS REMAIN VERY MOIST.
EXPECT CONVECTION TO REDEVELOP TODAY...BUT PROB NOT SVR. EXPECT
RAINFALL TO CONTINUE THROUGH MORNING AND PROBABLY INTO EARLY AFTERNOON.
RAINFALL WILL NOT END UNTIL SFC FNT MOVES THRU AND WINDS BECOME WLY.
WITH MANY AREAS IN FLOOD AND HEAVY RAINFALL TO RETURN THIS MORNING FLOOD
WATCHES SHOULD BE CONTINUED/EXTENDED. LEFT SMALL POP IN FOR TONIGHT.
MAY NOT BE NEEDED EXCEPT FOR ERN SECTIONS IF FNT SLOWS. ALSO FOR NC
MTNS AS COULD SEE SOME WRAP AROUND SHRA.

CURRENT TEMPS ARE AT OR ABOVE FCST HIGHS. TEMPS SHOULD BE RAISED TODAY.
COOLING OCCURS BEHIND THE FNT BUT TEMPS REMAIN MILD. LIKE SLIGHTLY
WARMER FWC HIGHS. LOWS CLOSE.

AVL 65/43/45 8/4/0
CLT 71/50/58 8/4/0
GSP 71/47/57 8/3/0

RWH

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 7, 10:07 PM EST, 5 hours 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1007 PM EST WED JAN 07 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

915 PM     3 SW EASLEY               SC   TORNADO
01/07/98   PICKENS                        TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ALONG
                                          HIGHWAY 135 SOUTH. DAMAGE
                                          TO MANY BUILDINGS...AND MANY
                                          TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN.
                                          REPORT FROM PICKENS COUNTY
                                          SHERIFF OFFICE.

SAB

Local storm report, Jan 7, 10:07 PM EST, 5 hours 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1007 PM EST WED JAN 07 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

915 PM     3 SW EASLEY               SC   TORNADO
01/07/98   PICKENS                        TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ALONG
                                          HIGHWAY 135 SOUTH. DAMAGE
                                          TO MANY BUILDINGS...AND MANY
                                          TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN.
                                          REPORT FROM PICKENS COUNTY
                                          SHERIFF OFFICE.

SAB

Special weather statement, Jan 7, 10:31 PM EST, 5 hours 34 minutes before

NCZ034-054-055-066>068-SCZ006>008-011>013-019-080530-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1031 PM EST WED JAN 7 1998

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HIGH WINDS MOVING ACROSS THE REGION...

A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA INTO THE
EARLY MORNING HOURS. WIND SPEEDS A FEW THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SURFACE
ARE BETWEEN 50 AND 70 MPH. SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF
TRANSLATING THESE WINDS TO THE SURFACE.

AT 1017 PM...A SPOTTER FOR THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE REPORTED A WIND
GUST OF 51 MPH IN NORTHERN GREENVILLE COUNTY...IN THE COMMUNITY OF BLUE
RIDGE.

DUE TO THE GROUND BEING SATURATED...TREES WILL BE UNUSUALLY SUSCEPTIBLE
TO FALLING. BE PREPARED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF DOWNED TREES AND POWER
LINES AS THESE STORMS MOVE THROUGH THE AREA AND STAY TUNED TO YOUR
FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

MOYER

Local storm report, Jan 8, 2:33 AM EST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
233 AM EST THU JAN 08 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

225 AM     SALISBURY                 NC   60 MPH TSTM GUST
01/08/98   ROWAN                          WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          WIND GUST TO AT LEAST 60
                                          MPH IN SALISBURY AT 225
                                          AM.

TPJ

Local storm report, Jan 8, 2:33 AM EST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
233 AM EST THU JAN 08 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

225 AM     SALISBURY                 NC   60 MPH TSTM GUST
01/08/98   ROWAN                          WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          WIND GUST TO AT LEAST 60
                                          MPH IN SALISBURY AT 225
                                          AM.

TPJ

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 7, 11:11 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Burke, Caldwell	5 hr
Jan 7, 11:11 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Polk, Rutherford	5 hr
Jan 7, 11:11 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	McDowell	5 hr
Jan 8, 12:01 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania, Yancey	4 hr
Jan 8, 12:01 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Avery, Mitchell	4 hr
Jan 8, 1:19 AM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	56 min
Jan 8, 1:47 AM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cabarrus	43 min
Jan 8, 2:09 AM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Rowan	21 min
Jan 8, 3:59 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Avery, Mitchell, Yancey	4 hr
Jan 8, 3:59 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Haywood, Jackson, Transylvania	4 hr
Jan 8, 3:59 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Henderson	4 hr
Jan 8, 4:05 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Burke, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford	4 hr
Jan 8, 7:52 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, McDowell, Transylvania, Yancey	4 hr
Jan 8, 7:52 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Polk	4 hr
Jan 8, 7:52 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Avery, Burke, Caldwell	4 hr
Jan 8, 7:52 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Mitchell	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1998 Every flash flood warning in 1998

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.