Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS Wilmington, NC

July 15, 1998Columbus County, North Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 15, 1998, 3:02 PM EDT for Columbus County, North Carolina. It was in force for 93 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 15, 1998, 3:02 PM EDT (19:02 UTC)
Expired: Jul 15, 1998, 4:35 PM EDT
In force: 93 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Columbus County, NC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:04 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 50 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -223 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 883 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 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 KILM 151909 COR
FFWILM
NCC047-152035-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING  ...CORRECTED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
302 PM EDT WED JUL 15 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON HAS ISSUED A...

* FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTH-CENTRAL COLUMBUS COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 435 PM EDT

* AT 255 PM EDT... DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED RAINFALL
  ESTIMATES OF 3 INCHES PER HOUR IN THE CITY OF WHITEVILLE DUE TO
  SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2
  INCHES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS.


DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS. SHALLOW...SWIFTLY FLOWING
WATER CAN WASH A CAR FROM A ROADWAY. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS..X.
ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK HIGHER GROUND.

HEWITT
       ...CORRECTED FOR RADAR TIME...

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 Wilmington, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 15, 1:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 1:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
155 PM EDT WED JUL 15 1998

RAH/CAE: LIKELY POPS INTO THU MAINLY THE CST W/MNTN OF +RA. CHC
POPS INL. MINS TNGT 75-80 FOR CST W/MID 70S INL. MAXS ON THU HITTG
NR 90 INL W/UPPER 80S CST. REST IS BLO. CWF: SCA LUKS VERY IFFY.
THGS HAVEN/T MATERIALIZED & WL KP BLO PER TELCOS W/RAH-MHX. SE DIR
TNGT BECMG S LATE TNGT-THU & THEN SW THU NGT-FRI. SPDS CUD RCH 20
OR SO ESP NC END ON THU CAUSING CONCERNS. AM DROPPG SCA FOR SC TOO.

ZNS: TAKG THE SLOWER APCH OF THGS THRU 48 HRS W/NO BIG KICKER TO
MOV WK SFC LOW & UPPER S/WV ALG. BEST RNFL WL B ON THE CST WHR
THETA E RDG & 2"+ PWS WL B LOCATED. FURTHER INL...CHCS DROP OFF.
UVM OVRNGT CAUSG CONCERN FOR FFWS FM 06-12Z. STACKED SYSM ENDS UP
IN SC BY 24 HRS & CONTS TO MOV @ A SNAILS W/VORT MAX AHEAD OF IT. CSTL
FNT REMAINS NR OR JUST INL FM THE CST THRU 36 HRS. INFLOW OFF THE
WTR THRU H7 KPG HIGH THREAT FOR SHRA/TSRA ON THE CST INTO THU. FLOW
VEERS TO THE SW THU NGT W/MRH STAYG @ 70%. CONVECTIVE PARAMETERS
ARE THERE AIDG IN +TSRA. 48-60 HRS... THGS LUK GUD FOR CONTD POPS
W/CONVECTION AS THE CWA GETS UNDER UPPER TROF & WK SFC FNT MOVG IN
FM THE W. LIFT IS FAIRLY WK BY THIS TIME FRAME & NEGLIGIBLE COOLG
ALF. THERMODYNAMICS WL B THE MAJOR FACTOR. GUID NMBRS ACCEPTABLE
THRU THE PD. WL NUDGE UPWARD ON MINS DUE TO HIER DWPTS/CLDS ESP
TNGT.

CWF: SE BECMG S BY MRNG W/SEAS BLDG TO 5 FT @ THE BOUYS. NOT A
WHOLE LOT OF INC IN SPDS OVRNGT W/BR SHOT ON THU AS S/WV GETS
CLOSER. WL KP CONDS BLO SCA. MRP IS CLOE FOR 1ST 6 HRS BUT LUKS
OVERDONE AFT 24 HRS W/NO REAL SUPPORT IN WND FIELD XCPT FOR VORT MAX.
I GUESS THAT CUD PUSH SPDS WIN 25 KTS. WL GO 20 KTS OR SO ON THU
W/A TURN TO TTHE SW BY 36 HRS. SEAS @ 5 FT COMG DOWN TO 3-4 FT BY FRI.

CCF: ILM 078/088 078/090 075 765
     FLO 075/089 076/092 075 464

THANX TO RAN(RAH)/RF(MHX) FOR HELPFUL INPUT.

JOE

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.