Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 8, NWS Morristown, TN

January 7, 1998Cherokee County, Clay County, North Carolina

NWS Morristown, TN issued this flash flood warning at Jan 7, 1998, 8:41 PM EST for Cherokee County, Clay County, North Carolina. It was in force for 6 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 7, 1998, 8:41 PM EST (01:41 UTC)
Expired
Jan 8, 1998, 2:45 AM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
NWS Morristown, TN
Area
Whole counties

Counties Cherokee County, NC, Clay County, NC

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:40 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 199 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-01-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 6 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-01-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 183 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
604 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
237 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 KMRX 080144
FFWMRX
NCC039-043-080745-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
841 PM EST WED JAN 7 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA
 
   ...CHEROKEE COUNTY...CLAY COUNTY
 
FLOODING IS OCCURING IN CHEROKEE COUNTY FROM HEAVY RAINS DURING THE LAST
FEW HOURS. SPECIFICALLY...THE TOWN OF ANDREWS HAS HAD FLOODING ALONG
JUNALUSKA CREEK. JUNALUSKA ROAD AND WAKEFIELD ROAD ARE CLOSED. DO NOT
DRIVE INTO THESE AREAS. IN ADDITION...COUNTY OFFICIALS HAVE EVACUATED A
FEW FAMILIES ALONG JUNALUSKA CREEK.
 
IN CLAY COUNTY...FLOODING ALONG SHOOTING CREEK HAS WASHED OUT SALLY GAP
ROAD.  TUSQUITTEE ROAD AND JULIA BUCKNER ROAD HAVE ALSO FLOODED.  DO NOT
DRIVE INTO THESE AREAS.  THE HIWASSEE RIVER HAS FLOODED SOME BEND AREAS
INCLUDING THE RIVER BEND SUBDIVISION.
 
THIS FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENTIT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO STREAMS...RIVERS...OR
CREEKS WHICH CAN BECOME KILLERS IN HEAVY RAINS.  CAMPERS SHOULD
AVOID CAMPING ALONG STREAMS OR CREEKS DURING THREATENING RAINS.
 
 
&

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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jan 7, 3:00 PM EST, 5 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 3:00 PM EST, 5 hours 41 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE/TRI-CITIES TN
3 PM EST WED JAN 7 1998

ETA TOO FAST W/SYSTEM OVER THE SE. PREFER SLOWER NGM/AVN.

BLANKET FFA FOR ALL OF E TN AND CHEROKEE AND CLAY COUNTIES TONIGHT
LOOKS GOOD GIVEN THAT SYSTEM IS MOVG XTRMLY SLOW. CRW..WOULD INCLD SW
VA AS WELL.  SRLY FLOW FM SFC ON UP..DEEP MOISTURE..LIFT..AND GOOD
LOW-LVL THETA-E RIDGE OVER CWA COMBINE TO GERNERATE WIDESPREAD MOD TO
HVY RAINFALL DURING THE OVRNGT HRS.  EVEN THOUGH HEAVIEST RAINFALL WL
BE ON THE E SLOPES OF THE MTS IN FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS..PREV MENTIONED
FACTORS WL OVERCOME MUCH OF THE RAIN SHADOW EFFECT.  RAIN CHCS SLOWLY
DIMINISH FM SW TO NE THURS AS DEEP MOISTURE AND BEST LIFT GRAD SHIFT N
& E.  WOULD GO FOR LIKELY POPS FOR NE TN/SW VA..GOOD CHC VALLEY &
PLATEAU..CHC POPS SE TN/SW NC. CHC POPS STILL NEEDED THURS NGT.  UPPER
TROF/VORT AXIS PIVOT ACRS CWA & FCST SNDGS SHOW STEEP LAPSE RATE. FRI
WL BE A DRY DAY AS A ZONAL hFLOW BEGINS TO DVLP. LOW LVL WRAPAROUND
MOISTURE REMAINS HI SO CLDY SKIES WL CONTINUE.

FWC/FAN BLEND ON TEMPS PREFERRED.

THANKS FOR COORD CALL MEM.

HSA

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 8, 5:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXCherokee49 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.