Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Raleigh, NC

January 16, 1998Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Jan 16, 1998, 5:00 PM EST for Wake 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 16, 1998, 5:00 PM EST (22:00 UTC)
Expired: Jan 16, 1998, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 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 KRDU 162202
FFWRDU
NCC183-170200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
500 PM EST FRI JAN 16 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR
  WAKE COUNTY

* UNTIL 900 PM EST

* SOME AREAS AND STREAMS THAT MAY BE AFFECTED ARE:

  CRABTREE CREEK
  SWIFT CREEK

* OVER AN INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN DURING THE PAST 2 HOURS AND
  REPORTSINDICATE THAT STREAMS IN THE RALEIGH AREA ARE RISING
  RAPIDLY. THE CREEKS MENTIONED ABOVE ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN
  FLOODING ROADS DURING THE NEXT HOUR OR SO. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED
  TO USE EXTREME CAUTION WHERE WATER CROSSES THE ROAD...PARTICULARLY
  IN THE RALEIGH METRO AREA.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 16, 11:39 AM EST, 5 hours 21 minutes before

NCZ007>011-021>028-038>043-073>078-083>086-088>089-170200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1130 AM EDT FRI JAN 16 1998

THIS SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA APPLIES ONLY TO
THE COUNTIES LISTED AT THE END OF TEXT.

THERE IS A LIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON...MAINLY
SOUTH OF A RALEIGH-LEXINGTON LINE. THE THREAT IS FOR GUSTY DOWNBURST
WINDS...AND TO A LESSER EXTENT...HAIL.

A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN SOUTH GEORGIA WILL LIFT RAPIDLY
NORTHEAST TO THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST BY SUNSET TODAY. WARM MOIST AIR
JUST ALOFT FROM THE SURFACE WILL BE FURTHER DESTABILIZED AS COLD AIR
IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOWS MOVES OVER NORTH
CAROLINA THIS AFTERNOON. NON-SEVERE PEA SIZED HAIL WILL BE LIKLEY WITH
SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION...WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. SEVERE
WEATHER IF ANY SHOULD BE ISOLATED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE
WATCHES AND WARNINGS.

RLH
*********************************************************************

ALAMANCE          ANSON              CHATHAM            CUMBERLAND
DAVIDSON          DURHAM             EDGECOMBE          FORSYTH
FRANKLIN          GRANVILLE          GUILFORD           HALIFAX
HARNETT           HOKE               JOHNSTON           LEE
MONTGOMERY        MOORE              NASH               ORANGE
PERSON            RANDOLPH           RICHMOND           SAMPSON
SCOTLAND          STANLY             VANCE              WAKE
WARREN            WAYNE              WILSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 16, 12:52 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett, Johnston	33 min
Jan 16, 3:57 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Chatham	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.