Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 21, NWS Blacksburg, VA

February 4, 1998Botetourt County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Feb 4, 1998, 8:27 AM EST for Botetourt County, Virginia. 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: Feb 4, 1998, 8:27 AM EST (13:27 UTC)
Expired: Feb 4, 1998, 2:30 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Botetourt County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:29 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 48 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: 479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 366 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1277 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 KROA 041328
FFWRNK
VAC023-121-161-163-530-678-770-775-041930-

BULLETIN--IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
827 AM EST WED FEB 4 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 230 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA

   ...BOTETOURT COUNTY
   ...ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY

IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA

   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
   ...ROANOKE COUNTY
IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF

   ...ROANOKE
   ...SALEM

IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF

   ...BUENA VISTA
   ...LEXINGTON

AT 826 AM DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF HEAVY RAIN ALONG THE BLUE
RIDGE MOUNTAINS THAT EXTENDED FROM MONTGOMERY AND ROANOKE
COUNTIES...NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH BOTETOURT AND INTO ROCKBRIDGE
COUNTY. RAINFALL HAS BEEN NEAR AN INCH IN THESE AREAS IN THE PAST 3
HOURS. AN ADDITIONAL HALF INCH TO INCH IS POSSIBLE IN THE NEXT 3
HOURS. THIS IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE CREEKS AND SMALL STREAMS TO COME
OUT OF THEIR BANKS.

DON'T DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADS! MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN
AUTOMOBILES.

JACKSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 4, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Montgomery, Roanoke	6 hr
Feb 4, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Rockbridge, City of Buena Vista	6 hr
Feb 4, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Lexington	6 hr
Feb 4, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Salem	6 hr
Feb 4, 8:27 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Roanoke	6 hr
Feb 4, 9:58 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Franklin, Patrick	5 hr
Feb 4, 11:40 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Amherst, Bedford	3 hr
Feb 4, 11:40 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK		3 hr
Feb 4, 2:04 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Rockbridge, City of Lexington	4 hr
Feb 4, 2:04 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Botetourt, Montgomery, Roanoke, City of Roanoke, City of Salem	4 hr
Feb 4, 2:04 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	City of Buena Vista	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.