Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 3, 2001Rutherford County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 3, 2001, 1:26 AM EDT for Rutherford County, North Carolina. 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: Jul 3, 2001, 1:26 AM EDT (05:26 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 2001, 4:30 AM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Rutherford County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:29 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 197 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: 197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 830 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KGSP 030531
FFWGSP
NCC161-030830-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
126 AM EDT TUE JUL 3 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  RUTHERFORD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 430 AM EDT

* AT 124 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN AREA OF 
VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER CENTRAL RUTHERFORD COUNTY...BETWEEN 
RUTHERFORDTON AND FOREST CITY. RADAR ESTIMATES THAT 2 TO 3 INCHES OF 
RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THIS AREA OVER THE PAST HOUR. ADDITIONAL HEAVY 
RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE AS THE STORMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRECIPITATION 
ARE DRIFTING ONLY SLOWLY TO THE SOUTH.

RAINFALL OF THIS INTENSITY WILL CAUSE CREEKS TO LEAVE THEIR BANKS IN 
THE FOREST CITY...SPINDALE AND RUTHERFORDTON METRO AREAS. ANKLE 
DEEP WATER WAS REPORTED IN A HOUSE IN FOREST CITY AND A MUD SLIDE 
WAS ALSO REPORTED THERE. 

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. 
IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. 
RESIDENTS LIVING ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE 
PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS 
SWIFTLY FLOWING WATERS OR WATERS OF UNKNOWN DEPTH BY FOOT OR BY 
AUTOMOBILE. EVEN MODERN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES CANNOT BE SAFELY 
DRIVEN THROUGH FLOOD WATERS.

$$
MCAVOY

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, 9:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 9:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 56 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
930 PM EDT MON JUL 2 2001

PRECIP COVERAGE HAS NOT BEEN TREMENDOUS THIS EVENING...BUT WITH
FRONT STALLED ACROSS WESTERN NC AND VAD WIND PROFILE STARTING TO
SHOW A GRADUAL SHIFT TO AN EASTERLY FLOW IN THE LOWEST 4K FT...AM
RELUCTANT TO TRIM POPS VERY MUCH. DEVELOPING WEAK UPSLOPE FLOW ALONG
WITH LOW LEVEL MOIST FLUX CONVERGENCE SHOULD PROVIDE PLENTY OF
SUPPORT TO KEEP TSRA FIRING FOR MUCH OF THE OVERNIGHT. WILL REDUCE
POPS TO CHC RANGE WITH LOWEST POPS NRN TIER TO HIGHEST SOUTH.

SFC DEWPOINTS SHOW LITTLE HINT OF DRYING IN THE EASTERLY FLOW ALONG
THE SLOWING FRONT. CURRENT FORECAST GENERALLY HAS TEMPS WELL IN
HAND. WILL REDUCE NRN MTN MINS TO AROUND 60 GIVEN LATEST TRENDS.

SEVERE THREAT REMAINS MINIMAL WITH HIGH WET BULB ZERO VALUES...MOIST
SOUNDINGS...AND WEAK WIND PROFILE. HEAVY RAIN WILL BE THE GREATEST
THREAT DURING THE OVERNIGHT WITH LATEST SRN PIEDMONT LAPS SOUNDINGS
SHOWING VIRTUALLY NO 0 TO 6 KM STORM MOTION. ALTHOUGH MOST STORMS
WILL RAIN OUT IN PLACE...WILL NOT ISSUE A SHORT TERM FLASH FLOOD
WATCH DUE TO SCATTERED COVERAGE.

FCSTID = 33
GSP   68  88  69  88 /  40  50  40  50
AND   68  88  69  88 /  40  50  40  50
CLT   67  86  68  88 /  40  40  40  50
HKY   66  83  67  86 /  30  30  30  50
AVL   64  82  64  83 /  40  40  40  50

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

HG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 3, 12:24 AM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1224 AM EDT TUE JUL 03 2001

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

1220 AM    2 N LENOIR                NC   FLASH FLOOD
07/03/01   CALDWELL                       EM REPORTED FLASH
                                          FLOODING WITH CAR
                                          FLOATING US321 NORTH OF
                                          LENOIR.  ALSO SOME
                                          MUDSLIDES NORTHEAST PART
                                          OF COUNTY.

JONES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 12:22 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Caldwell	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2001 Every flash flood warning in 2001

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.