Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 58, NWS Blacksburg, VA

August 11, 2001Patrick County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 11, 2001, 11:59 AM EDT for Patrick County, 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 11, 2001, 11:59 AM EDT (15:59 UTC)
Expired: Aug 11, 2001, 3:00 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Patrick County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:02 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, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 75 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: 254 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -283 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1204 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 16 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 KRNK 111558
FFWRNK
VAC141-111900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1159 AM EDT SAT AUG 11 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN PATRICK COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 300 PM EDT.

* AT 1155 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL 3 MILES WEST OF WOOLWINE.    
  THE STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE 
WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH 
FLOODING IN WEST CENTRAL PATRICK COUNTY...ALONG ROCK CASTLE CREEK 
AND THE HEADWATERS OF THE SMITH RIVER.

<<CALL TO ACTION>>A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS
IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER
GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

RELAY YOUR REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY
CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

.END
$$

04

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 Aug 11, 10:00 AM EDT, 1 hour 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 10:00 AM EDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA
1000 AM EDT SAT AUG 11 2001

PLAN ON UPDATE TO ZONES...MAINLY FOR COSMETICS AND TO BUMP UP MAXES
IN A COUPLE OF GROUPS WHERE SUN IS DOING ITS THING.  BIGGEST CONCERN
FOR THIS AFTN-EVE IS WHERE ANY FFING MAY OCCUR.  AM SOUNDING WOULD
INDICATE SLOW...5-7 MPH...NE DRIFT TO STORMS WHICH DEVELOP SO WILL
NEED TO WATCH FOR TERRAIN EFFECTS AND PSBL TRAINING.  ALSO...NOT
MUCH OF A CAP LEFT...SO EXPECT GREATER COVERAGE THIS AFTN ONCE THEY
START TO POP.

12Z FNTL BNDRY Q-STNRY ACRS NRN NJ-SRN PA AND NOT EXPECTED TO MAKE
MUCH OF A PUSH TO THE SOUTH.

.RNK...
NC...NONE.
VA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

MG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 11, 1:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Carroll, City of Galax	44 min
Aug 11, 1:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Amherst	3 hr
Aug 11, 2:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Henry, City of Martinsville	28 min
Aug 11, 2:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Bedford	40 min
Aug 11, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Patrick	48 min
Aug 11, 2:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Appomattox	39 min
Aug 11, 3:53 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Pittsylvania	3 hr
Aug 11, 6:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Halifax	44 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.