Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 52, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 19, 1998Henderson County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Apr 19, 1998, 12:31 PM EDT for Henderson County, North 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
Apr 19, 1998, 12:31 PM EDT (16:31 UTC)
Expired
Apr 19, 1998, 3:35 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Henderson County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:34 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, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 247 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 1998-04-19Temperature 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 1998-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 408 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
499 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
408 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
462 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 KGSP 191633
FFWGSP
NCC089-191935-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1231 PM EDT SUN APR 19 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC HAS
ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  HENDERSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 335 PM EDT

* AT 1230... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED
  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING NORTH OUT OF
  SOUTH CAROLINA INTO HENDERSON COUNTY.

* UP TO ONE AND A THIRD INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN HENDERSON
  COUNTY.

REMEMBER THAT MOST FLOOD FATALITIES ARE THE RESULT OF DRIVING INTO
FLOODED STREETS...ROADS...OR STREAMS...OR OCCUR WHEN CHILDREN PLAY
IN OR NEAR STORM DRAINS OR STREAMS.

JAT

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 Apr 19, 9:08 AM EDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 19, 9:08 AM EDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE/SPARTANBURG, SC
908 AM EDT SUN APR 19 1998

CAE: CONTINUE FFA. NEAR 70 FOOTHILLS.
FFC: CUT POPS IF FRONT PROGRESSES.
RAH: CONTINUE FFA. 65-70 FOOTHILLS/NW PIEDMONT.

SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS COLD FRONT MOVING INTO NC FROM TN...WITH
WAVE NEAR TYS. WARM FRONT N OF I-20 IN SC AND UPPER SAVANNAH VALLEY
IN GA. GREENWOOD SC 69 DEGREES WITH S WIND. RADAR SHOWS MODERATE
RAINFALL TRAINING UP FRONTAL BAND. IFFLOWS READINGS QUITE LOW IN
THIS AREA DESPITE RADAR RETURNS. DEW POINT ANALYSIS AND SATELLITE
IMAGERY SUGGEST HEAVIEST RAINFALL WILL BE IN E CAROLINA. BREAKOUT
TO CONTINUE S UPSTATE SC BUT SPEED/LATITUDE OF SURFACE WAVE TO
LIMIT N MOVEMENT OF WARM FRONT...AND W NC WILL PROBABLY NOT SEE
WARM SECTOR. NE GA TO SEE COLD FROPA SOON. BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE:
WARM SECTOR SC PIEDMONT. DESPITE PESSIMISTIC FORECAST FOR WARM
SECTOR...MAX TEMPERATURES STILL WITHIN REACH IF COLD FROPA SOON
ENOUGH FOR W FLOW AND PARTIAL BREAKOUT TO TAKE EFFECT.

JAT

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 19, 10:37 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPJackson3 hr
Apr 19, 3:03 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPGaston, Lincoln17 min
Apr 19, 3:19 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPLincoln31 min
Apr 19, 3:36 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPGaston29 min
Apr 19, 4:05 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPMecklenburg30 min
Apr 19, 4:13 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPCabarrus, Rowan32 min
Apr 19, 4:58 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPUnion47 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1998Every 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.