Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 8, NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC

May 17, 1998Onslow County, North Carolina

NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued this flash flood warning at May 17, 1998, 4:29 PM EDT for Onslow County, North Carolina. It was in force for 61 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: May 17, 1998, 4:29 PM EDT (20:29 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1998, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Onslow County, NC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:29 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, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 47 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: 1093 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 866 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMHX 172029
FFWMHX
NCC133-172130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
429 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEWPORT HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ONSLOW COUNTY

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 420 PM RADAR INDICATED 3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN FROM
  JACKSONVILLE SOUTH TO CAMP LEJEUNE. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WITH
  HEAVY RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT HOUR AS THEY MOVE
  SOUTHEAST ACROSS ONSLOW COUNTY. RESIDENTS FROM JACKSONILLE SOUTH
  TO NEW RIVER INLET SHOULD BE PREPARED FLOODED ROADS AND STREAMS.

IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS... MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. DO NOT DRIVE
THROUGH WATER COVERING THE ROAD.

IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE TO ESCAPE FLOOD
WATERS.  DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS
RISING.

RVT/RF

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 Newport/Morehead City, NC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at May 17, 1:57 PM EDT, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 1:57 PM EDT, 2 hours 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
157 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998

ZFP: NOT MUCH TIME TO LOOK AT DATA AS TSRA HAVE KEPT ME BUSY. HARD DAY
TO FIGURE WITH 70+ VILS NOT PRODUCING LARGE HAIL BUT OTHER CELLS WITH
VILS IN 50-60 PRODUCING DIME OR LARGER...COULD JUST BE LACK OF REPORTS.
BATCH OF CNVCTN ALONG CST HAS WEAKENED A BIT HOWEVER STILL BELIEVE
AREAS TO W AND S WILL LIGHT UP NEXT SVRL HOURS AS HIGH INSTAB...LOW LVL
CNVRGNCE AND APPROACHING SRT WV INTERACT. FRNT SHLD SLOWLY MOVE OFFHSR
OVERNIGHT AS SRT WV GOES BY BUT MAY BE LATE OR TOWRD MORNING DOWN S.
DRIER AIR WL WORK IN FROM N TO S BEHIND FRNT HOWEVER APPEARS IMD CST AND
SRN SCTNS MAY BE SLOW TO CLEAR AS FRNT LIKELY WONT PUSH VERY FAR OFFSHR.
CAN PROB WORD MSTLY SUNNY N TO PC OR BECOMING MSTLY SUNNY S. QUIET WX
MON NIGHT INTO TUE AS HIGH BUILDS IN...WL HAVE TO WATCH FRNT LOW OFFSHR
AS MAY INFLUENCE CSTL LOCATIONS IF STALLS TOO CLOSE.

CWF: LIGHT MAINLY S/SW WINDS WL SHFT TO N BEHIND FRNT FROM N TO S OVRNGHT.
STILL COULD BE DECENT SURGE ESPCLY N AS GRDNT TIGHTENS ABIT AND COOLER
DRIER AIR WORKS IN. WNDS SHLD DROP OFF QUICK AS HI GETS CLSR. WL FOLLOW
CRNT TRNDS.

.MHX...NONE.

FREDERICK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 11:04 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Beaufort	41 min
May 17, 12:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Carteret	33 min
May 17, 12:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Pamlico	48 min
May 17, 4:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MHX	Duplin	48 min
May 17, 5:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MHX	Onslow	2 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.