Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 2, 1999Buncombe County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 2, 1999, 2:53 PM EDT for Buncombe 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
Jul 2, 1999, 2:53 PM EDT (18:53 UTC)
Expired
Jul 2, 1999, 5:20 PM EDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Buncombe County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 308 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 12:00Z on 1999-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 406 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 12:00Z on 1999-07-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -39 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
406 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
758 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 KGSP 021855
FFWGSP
NCC021-022120-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
253 PM EDT FRI JUL 2 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 520 PM EDT

* AT 245 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN 4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ASHEVILLE
  AND 5 MILES WEST OF ASHEVILLE...NEARLY STATIONARY.

AROUND 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN IN THE VICINITY OF FAIRVIEW
WEST TO NEAR SKYLAND AND TORRENTIAL RAIN CONTINUES TO
FALL. STREAMS AND CREEKS BETWEEN ROUTE 74 AND ROUTE 25 ARE
EXPECTED TO BEGIN RAPIDLY RISING.

FLOODING IS ALSO EXPECTED NEAR ROUTE 74 WEST OF ASHEVILLE ALONG
HOMINY CREEK NEAR THE HAYWOOD COUNTY LINE.

REMEMBER THAT MOST FLOOD FATALITIES ARE THE RESULT OF DRIVING INTO
FLOODED STREETS...ROADS...OR STREAMS...OR OCCUR WHEN C@HILDREN PLAY
IN OR NEAR STORM DRAINS OR STREAMS.

HG

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 Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 2, 2:35 PM EDT, 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 2:35 PM EDT, 18 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
235 PM EDT FRI JUL 2 1999

WILL HAVE TO CONTINUE TO WATCH AREA ACRS SW NC/NE GA THRU MID-EVENING
AS SLOWLY SOUTHWARD SINKING VORT...AS PER 15Z RUC...FOCUSES SLOW MOVING
TSTMS IN THIS AREA BEFORE ETA TRENDS SHIFT STONGER OMEGA FURTHER
SOUTHWEST OVERNIGHT. WILL DECIDE NEAR ZFP ISSUE TIME WHETHER TO INCLUDE
AN EVENING PERIOD MENTIONING HIGHER POPS & HEAVY RAIN THREAT...ESP IN
AFOREMENTIONED AREA.

ELSEWHERE & FOR THE REST OF TONIGHT...ELONGATED VORT AXIS & OMEGA
FIELDS KEEP SOME LIFT ACRS THE MTNS BEFORE SHEARING THIS FEATURE OUT
SATURDAY.  ABOVE NORMAL PWS & VERY WEAK STEERING CURRENTS COULD MEAN
HVY RAIN PRODUCING...SLOW MOVING TSTMS AGAIN TONIGHT...NOT JUST WHERE
SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT IS GREATEST BUT ALONG ANY SMALLER SCALE BNDRYS EAST
OF THE MTNS AS WELL. GIVEN UNCERTAINTY ON HOW MUCH CVRG WELL HAVE
TONIGHT...30 POP SHOULD COVER IT ACRS FTHLS/PIEDMONT.

UPPER RIDGE STILL PROGGED TO BUILD OVER AREA TOMORROW WITH 594+ DM 500
MB HEIGHTS & SLOWLY WARMING TEMPS ALOFT.  BEST CHCS TO OBTAIN 30% TSTM
CVRG WILL BE IN MTNS & ALONG RIDGE PERIPHERY...SO PLAN ON CONFINING
POPS TO NC...& GA MTNS.  LITTLE CHG IN THE PATTERN THRU SUNDAY WITH
UPPER RIDGE STREGTHENING & BECOMING CENTERED A LITTLE BIT FURTHER
NORTH IN THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC REGION. AGAIN...POPS LIMITED TO JUST THE
MTNS. IN THE EXTENDED...PATTERN DEVELOPS TROUGHINESS IN EAST BY DAY 5
& WILL REINTRODUCE PCPN CHCS CWFA WIDE ON WEDNESDAY.

AVL  67/85/66/88  4333
CLT  71/88/70/92  3221
GSP  70/89/69/92  3221

.GSP...NONE.

CSH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 1, 9:56 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPIredell, Rowan3 hr
Jul 2, 3:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPBuncombe34 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 1999Every flash flood warning in 1999

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.