Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 37, NWS Baltimore/Washington

August 4, 2001Grant County, West Virginia

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this flash flood warning at Aug 4, 2001, 3:10 PM EDT for Grant County, West 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
Aug 4, 2001, 3:10 PM EDT (19:10 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 2001, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area
Whole counties

County Grant County, WV

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:09 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 156 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2001-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 334 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 2001-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -41 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
334 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-106 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-28 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 
WGUS51 KLWX 041913
FFWLWX

WVC023-042215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON
310 PM EDT SAT AUG 4 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  GRANT COUNTY IN EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER 
THE EASTERN AND SOUTHEASTERN PORTIONS OF GRANT COUNTY. THESE STORMS 
ARE NEARLY STATIONARY. RADAR ESTIMATES THAT OVER 2 INCHES OF RAIN 
HAS FALLEN NEAR PATTERSON CREEK AND LUNICE CREEK...BETWEEN 
MOOREFIELD AND PETERSBURG... IN THE PAST 90 MINUTES.

IF WATER IS FLOWING ACROSS A ROADWAY TURN YOUR VEHICLE AROUND AND
FIND AN ALTERNATE ROUTE. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW
YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS, ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK
HIGHER GROUND.

$$
JM!

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 Baltimore/Washington wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 4, 2:38 PM EDT, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 2:38 PM EDT, 32 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
238 PM EDT SAT AUG 4 2001

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN THIS EVENING
SHOULD GRADUALLY END AS SUN GOES DOWN. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW
GRADUAL DISSAPATION OF UPPER AND SURFACE THROUGH OVER CWA INTO
SUNDAY.

MAJOR FEATURE IS LARGE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDING INTO AREA THIS
WEEK WITH 850 MB TEMPS EXCEEDING 18 DEG C EACH DAY. COLD FRONT
APPROACHES BY MID WEEK BUT MODELS KEEP IT TO NORTH. RESULT IS MORE
WESTERLY FLOW MID WEEK AND HOT TEMPS. AFTERNOON HEAT INDEXES LIKELY
FROM 100 TO 105 WITH HEAT AND HUMIDITY.

WILL CONTIUE TO WATCH THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING. SO FAR ONLY ABOUT
1 INCH IN 1 HOUR FROM A FEW. WITH FF GUIDANCE GENERALLY ABOUT 2
INCHES AN HOUR AND 3 TO 4 INCHES IN 3 HOURS WILL BE OKAY AS LONG AS
THEY KEEP MOVING.

FCSTID = 1
DCA   69  89  71  93 /  30  10  10  10
BWI   67  89  69  92 /  30  10  10  10
MRB   65  88  67  91 /  40  10  10  10
IAD   67  88  68  92 /  30  10  10  10
CHO   67  88  69  93 /  30  10  10  10
HGR   65  88  66  91 /  40  10  10  10
NHK   69  89  70  92 /  30  10  10  10
W99   65  88  66  90 /  40  10  10  10

.LWX...
DC...NONE.
MD...NONE.
VA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 2001Every 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.