Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 55, NWS Blacksburg, VA

March 20, 1998City of Salem, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Mar 20, 1998, 11:30 PM EST for City of Salem, Virginia. It was in force for 3 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: Mar 20, 1998, 11:30 PM EST (04:30 UTC)
Expired: Mar 21, 1998, 2:30 AM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County City of Salem, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 36 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:30 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 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 50 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: 440 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 713 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KROA 210433 COR
FFWRNK
VAC121-161-770-775-210730-

BULLETIN--IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED...CORRECTED FIRST
FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS         PARAGRAPH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1130 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG VA HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS EFFECTIVE UNTIL 230 AM
EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA

   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
   ...ROANOKE COUNTY

IN SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA THE INDEPENDENT CITY OF

   ...ROANOKE
   ...SALEM

AT 1130 PM...HEAVY RAINFALL WAS INDICATED ACROSS MONTGOMERY AND
ROANOKE COUNTIES.  RAIN GAUGES INDICATE THAT THREE TO FOUR TENTHS
OF RAIN HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN THESE COUNTIES SINCE 10 PM.  A PERIOD
OF MODERTATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BRING AN ADDITIONAL QUARTER TO
HALF INCH OF RAIN BY 200 AM.

THIS ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL KEEP THE NORTH AND SOUTH FORKS OF THE
ROANOKE RIVER OUT OF THEIR BANKS.  ADDITIONAL SMALL CREEK AND
STREAM FLOODING IS LIKELY.  URBAN FLOODING OF ROADS AND LOW WATER
BRIDGES IS ALSO EXPECTED.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLASH FLOODING. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.
MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO
FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

DESROSIERS

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 Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Mar 20, 8:45 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 20, 8:45 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
845 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998

DISC...

FRANKLY...HAVE NOT HAD TIME TO LOOK AT A THING.  PER REQUEST FM
RDU... SOO AND I HAVE SCOUTED A FEW SITES IN THE MNTNS...  28 DEGS
ON BEECH MNTN W/ SOME SNOW HAVING JUST STARTED.  BOONE WAS 39 DEGS.
HAVING FOUND THAT OUT...THINK MENTION OF SNOW IN THE NRN MNTNS IS A
GOOD PLAN.  CRW WL ADD TO HIER ELEVS OF NRV.  COLDEST TEMPS SHD WRAP
ARND THE SRN SIDE OF THE SYS...SO NOT SURE WHETHER OR NOT A MNTN OF
SNOW IS NECESSARY IN THE VA HIGHLANDS.  KNOW THAT THE STERLING FCSTR
AT WBC WILL EXPOUND.

DESROSIERS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 20, 7:35 PM EST, 3 hours 55 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
735 PM EDT FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

340 PM     STONEVILLE                NC   TORNADO
3/20/98    ROCKINGHAM                     *** 2 DEAD, 19 INJ ***
                                          OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED...
                                          TREES AND MOBILE HOMES
                  n                        DAMAGED. ONE DEATH OCCURRED
                                          IN A VEHICLE. DAMAGE SURVEY
                                          TO BE CONDUCTED SATURDAY.

MTE

Local storm report, Mar 20, 8:40 PM EST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
940 PM EDT FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

845 PM     CHATHAM                   VA   LIGHTNING
3/20/98    PITTSYLVANIA                   *** 1 INJ ***
                                          MAN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
                                          OUTSIDE HIS HOME ON THE
                                          WEST SIDE OF CHATHAM.

SJK

Local storm report, Mar 20, 9:32 PM EST, 1 hour 58 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1032 PM EDT FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

642 PM     RUFFIN                    NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
3/20/98    ROCKINGHAM                     DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER

MEG

Local storm report, Mar 20, 9:43 PM EST, 1 hour 47 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
940 PM EDT FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

845 PM     CHATHAM                   VA   LIGHTNING
3/20/98    PITTSYLVANIA                   *** 1 INJ ***
                                          MAN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
                                          OUTSIDE HIS HOME ON THE
                                          WEST SIDE OF CHATHAM.

SJK

Local storm report, Mar 20, 10:33 PM EST, 57 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1032 PM EDT FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

642 PM     RUFFIN                    NC   1.00 INCH HAIL
3/20/98    ROCKINGHAM                     DIME TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER

MEG

Local storm report, Mar 20, 10:55 PM EST, 35 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT...RETRANSMISSION ONLY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1055 PM EST FRI MAR 20 1998

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

340 PM     STONEVILLE                NC   TORNADO
3/20/98    ROCKINGHAM                     *** 2 DEAD, 19 INJ ***
                                          OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED...
                                          TREES AND MOBILE HOMES
                                          DAMAGED. ONE DEATH OCCURRED
                                          IN A VEHICLE. DAMAGE SURVEY
                                          TO BE CONDUCTED SATURDAY.

MTE/DSD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 11:30 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Roanoke, City of Roanoke	3 hr
Mar 20, 11:30 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Montgomery	3 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.