Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998
Flash Flood Warning 67, NWS Blacksburg, VA
NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Apr 19, 1998, 4:00 PM EDT for Ashe County, Watauga County, North Carolina. It was in force for 2 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
- Apr 19, 1998, 4:00 PM EDT (20:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 19, 1998, 6:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 2 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Blacksburg, VA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Ashe County, NC, Watauga County, NC
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:03 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 155 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 499 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 76 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 408 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 462 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KROA 191957 FFWRNK NCC009-189-192200- BULLETIN--IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 400 PM EDT SUN APR 19 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS EXTENDED A * FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS FOR... ASHE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA WATAUGA COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 600 PM EDT * AT 400 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAINFALL COUNTY WIDE. MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAINS CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS SATURATED GROUNDS. THE RAINS WILL TAPER OFF AFTER 5 PM. EMERGENCY MANAGERS REPORT NUMEROUS CREEKS AND STREAMS WERE OUT OF THEIR BANKS. DON'T DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADS! MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. KK
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 Apr 19, 2:44 PM EDT, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 19, 2:44 PM EDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 245 PM SUN APR 19 1998 RECOMMENDATIONS... ALL...GREAT PHONE CONVERSATIONS TODAY. .CRW...RUN WITH YOUR THOUGHTS REGARDING ZONES/WATCH. RNK SPECIAL SOUNDING IS UNDERWAY THIS AFTERNOON AS REQUESTED DISCUSSION... KFCX 88D AT 18Z SHWD SHWRS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS MAINLY WEST OF A CLT TO CHO LINE. REVIEW OF GSP 88D INDCTD A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING. SFC LOW WITH ASSOCIATED TROF NEARLY OVERHEAD WITH COLD FRONT TRAILING SOUTH TO FL. AS PROGD LOW LIFTS N...COLD FRONT PUSHES EAST. SOME TIMING DIFERENCES NOTED ON CD FROPA BUT PCP SHOULD END TONIGHT. WEST FLOW AND LINGER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE MAY HOLD CLOUDS IN THE WESTERN SLOPES. HOWEVER...HIGH PRES SLIDES EAST TONIGHT INTO MONDAY. HIGH MOVES EAST ALLOWING CLIPPER TYPE SYSTEM HEAD OUR WAY ON TUESDAY-TUESDAY NIGHT. JUST BEEN BOXED... A FEW QUICK NUMBERS... ROA 45/66/45/68 4111 LYH 48/68/45/67 5111 DAN 52/70/46/68 5111 RNK 44/63/43/65 3112 BLF 40/60/44/65 3112 KK
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 19, 11:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058- 059-WVZ042>045-201200- THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1130 AM EDT SUN APR 19 1998 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE... LOW PRESSURE OVER EASTERN TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON WILL MOVE ALONG THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS TO A POSITION OVER THE PANHANDLE OF MARYLAND THIS EVENING. AS THE TRACKS NORTHEAST... A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT ACROSS THE MID ATLANTIC REGION. THIS WILL ALLOW UNSTABLE AIR TO SPILL INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA AND INTO FAR SOUTHERN VIRGINIA. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE RISK AREA THIS AFTERNOON THOUGH THIS EVENING AHEAD OF AN EASTWARD MOVING COLD FRONT. AS COLDER AIR ALOFT AND A STRONG JET STREAM ARRIVE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. THE MAIN THREAT IS EXPECTED TO BE DAMAGING WINDS. THE DANGER WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE RECENT AND EXPECTED RAINFALL. TREES AND POORLY SECURED STRUCTURES WILL BE TOPPLED MORE EASILY BECAUSE OF THE SOFT GROUND. LARGE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. DESROSIERS/KOSTURA
Special weather statement, Apr 19, 11:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058- 059-WVZ042>045-201200- THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 1130 AM EDT SUN APR 19 1998 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING EAST OF THE BLUE RIDGE... LOW PRESSURE OVER EASTERN TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON WILL MOVE ALONG THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS TO A POSITION OVER THE PANHANDLE OF MARYLAND THIS EVENING. AS THE TRACKS NORTHEAST... A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT ACROSS THE MID ATLANTIC REGION. THIS WILL ALLOW UNSTABLE AIR TO SPILL INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT OF NORTH CAROLINA AND INTO FAR SOUTHERN VIRGINIA. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE RISK AREA THIS AFTERNOON THOUGH THIS EVENING AHEAD OF AN EASTWARD MOVING COLD FRONT. AS COLDER AIR ALOFT AND A STRONG JET STREAM ARRIVE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. THE MAIN THREAT IS EXPECTED TO BE DAMAGING WINDS. THE DANGER WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE RECENT AND EXPECTED RAINFALL. TREES AND POORLY SECURED STRUCTURES WILL BE TOPPLED MORE EASILY BECAUSE OF THE SOFT GROUND. LARGE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. DESROSIERS/KOSTURA
Special weather statement, Apr 19, 3:24 PM EDT, 36 minutes before
NCZ005-006-VAZ044-058-059-200115-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
324 PM EDT SUN APR 19 1998
A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 9 PM FOR THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES
IN VIRGINIA:
CHARLOTTE...PITTSYLVANIA...AND HALIFAX
IN NORTH CAROLINA
ROCKINGHAM AND CASWELL
A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE EAST THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS
EVENING INTO A MOIST UNSTABLE AIRMASS.
REMEMBER... A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN
AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. LARGE HAIL... DAMAGING WINDS... AND
TORRENTIAL RAINFALL MAY ALSO OCCUR. BE READY TO SEEK A PLACE OF
SAFETY IF A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.
KKThe office that day
Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 19, 12:07 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Ashe, Watauga | 4 hr |
| Apr 19, 2:29 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Wilkes | 4 hr |
| Apr 19, 4:10 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Stokes, Surry | 3 hr |
| Apr 19, 4:10 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 3 hr |
| Apr 19, 4:21 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 49 min |
| Apr 19, 4:32 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | RNK | Rockingham | 33 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.