Alert archive / South Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

October 16, 2002Greenville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Oct 16, 2002, 12:41 AM EDT for Greenville County, South Carolina. It was in force for 109 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Oct 16, 2002, 12:41 AM EDT (04:41 UTC)
Expired
Oct 16, 2002, 2:30 AM EDT
In force
109 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Greenville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:41 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 00:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 259 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 00:00Z on 2002-10-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2002-10-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 129 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
460 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 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 
WGUS52 KGSP 160441
FFWGSP
SCC045-160630-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1233 AM EDT WED OCT 16 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  GREENVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 230 AM EDT

* AT 1230 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN AREA
  OF VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS GREENVILLE COUNTY.
  LOCAL 1/2 TO 1 INCH PER HOUR RAINFALL RATES WILL AFFECT THE AREA
  OVER THE NEXT 2 HOURS...PUSHING STREAMS AND CREEKS ABOVE BANKFULL.
  
* THE REEDY RIVER IN GREENVILLE IS EXPECTED TO RISE TO ABOVE 9 FEET
  BETWEEN 1 AND 2 AM...FLOODING PORTIONS OF CLEVELAND PARK. ANY
  FURTHER RISES EARLY THIS MORNING COULD THREATEN ADJACENT STREETS
  AND BUILDINGS.

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.

$$
HG
1 follow-up statement
000 
WGUS72 KGSP 160550
FFSGSP
SCC045-160630-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
145 AM EDT WED OCT 16 2002

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 230 AM EDT FOR GREENVILLE
COUNTY...

AT 140 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE 
HEAVY RAIN FALLING ACROSS GREENVILLE COUNTY. THIS RAINFALL IS 
EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF FROM THE SOUTHWEST TO SCATTERED SHOWERS 
BETWEEN 2 AND 3 AM...HOWEVER AN ADDITIONAL 1/2 INCH OF RAIN IS 
POSSIBLE.

AT 140 AM...THE REEDY RIVER IN GREENVILLE WAS AT 8.7 FEET. FLOODING 
OF LOW LYING AREAS IN CLEVELAND PARK BEGINS AT ABOUT 8.0 FEET. 
BRUSHY CREEK AT DEL NORTE WAS RUNNING AT 5.6 FEET. THE BRUSHY CREEK 
MAY REACH 6.0 AROUND 2 AM...CREATING FLOODING CONDITIONS ALONG 
BOILING SPRINGS ROAD AT DEL NORTE. OTHER STREAMS AND CREEKS AROUND 
THE COUNTY WILL LIKELY ALSO RUN NEAR BANKFULL EARLY THIS 
MORNING...AND SIGNIFICANT STANDING WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE NORMALLY 
POOR DRAINAGE AREAS.

DURING HEAVY RAIN EVENTS...SEVERE URBAN FLOODING CAN OCCUR IN AREAS 
SUCH AS UNDERPASSES...AND LOW AREAS WHERE WATER TENDS TO COLLECT. 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. USE CAUTION IN OR NEAR ANY SMALL
CREEK TONIGHT...AND AVOID ROUTES THAT YOU KNOW ARE FLOOD PRONE.

$$
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 Oct 15, 11:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 15, 11:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1120 PM EDT TUE OCT 15 2002

CURRENT RADAR IMAGERY CONTINUES TO INDICATE FAIRLY LARGE AREA OF
MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN EXTENDING FROM WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE
UPSTATE THROUGH THE SOUTHERN NC MNTNS. BACK EDGE OF THIS RAIN SHIELD
CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE GA/SC BORDER...WITH ONLY SCATTERED SHOWERS
LINGERING FURTHER WEST INTO NORTH GEORGIA. WE WILL EXTEND
CATEGORICAL POPS/HEAVY RAIN WORDING INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS
ACROSS  THE UPSTATE AND NC MNTNS...BUT SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL SHOULD
BE ENDING IN THESE AREAS OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. FURTHER
NORTH AND EAST...CAT POPS WILL BE RETAINED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE
OVERNIGHT PERIOD. ALTHOUGH IT LOOKS AS IF THE AXIS OF HEAVIEST RAIN
WILL BE IMMEDIATELY ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE...WHERE LIFT WILL BE AIDED
BY STRONG UPSLOPE FLOW...WE WILL ALLOW THE FLOOD WATCH TO REMAIN IN
EFFECT OVERNIGHT.

OTHERWISE...WILL REFLECT TEMPS ACTUALLY RISING A COUPLE OF DEGREES
OVERNIGHT IN THE UPSTATE AND SOUTHERN NC FOOTHILLS...AS SURFACE COLD
POOL CONTINUES TO DECAY.

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES
NCZ033>037...NCZ048>050...NCZ052>057...NCZ064>072...NCZ082.
SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES SCZ003...SCZ006>009.

LANE
Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 15, 6:11 AM EDT, 18 hours 30 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-151215-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
611 AM EDT TUE OCT 15 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...

WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT WITH THE
THREAT OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL ACROSS MUCH OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
AND ADJACENT AREAS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE. FOR FURTHER
DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD WATCH...FFAGSP...AND
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SPSGSP...ISSUED BY THIS OFFICE.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

WINDY CONDITIONS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS HIGHER ELEVATIONS ARE LIKELY
ON WEDNESDAY. FOR FURTHER DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SPSGSP...ISSUED BY THIS OFFICE.

SOME FROST WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS PARTS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA
MOUNTAINS EARLY SATURDAY MORNING.

55

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 16, 2:41 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPGreenville109 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in South Carolina, 2002Every flash flood warning in 2002

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.