Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 20, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

December 20, 2002Jackson County, Swain County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Dec 20, 2002, 1:39 AM EST for Jackson County, Swain 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: Dec 20, 2002, 1:39 AM EST (06:39 UTC)
Expired: Dec 20, 2002, 4:30 AM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Jackson County, NC, Swain County, NC

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:40 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, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 249 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 81 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 662 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 833 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 200639
FFWGSP
NCC099-173-200930-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
138 AM EST FRI DEC 20 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN SWAIN COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
  NORTHERN JACKSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 430 AM EST

* AT 130 AM EST...THE CHEROKEE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS REPORTED 
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...AND THAT THE OCONALUFTEE RIVER WAS RISING 
QUICKLY.  ALSO...THE STREAM GAGE AT THE TROUT FARM AT RAVEN FORK WAS 
NEAR FLOOD STAGE AND RISING RAPIDLY.  OTHER CREEKS IN NEARBY AREAS 
WERE ALSO LIKELY NEAR FLOOD.

* LOW LYING ROADWAYS AND CAMPGROUNDS IN THE AREA WILL LIKELY FLOOD. 

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF CREEKS
AND STREAMS...ROADS AND ROADSIDE CULVERTS. THE HEAVY RAINS COULD ALSO
TRIGGER ROCK AND MUDSLIDES IN STEEP TERRAIN.

$$
JONES

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KGSP 200828
FFSGSP
NCC099-173-200930-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
328 AM EST FRI DEC 20 2002

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 430 AM FOR EASTERN SWAIN AND 
NORTHERN JACKSON COUNTIES...

AT 315 AM...THE STAGE AT THE TROUT FARM ALONG RAVEN CREEK WAS 
BEGINNING TO FALL.  THE APPARENT CREST WAS NEAR THE FLOOD STAGE OF 6 
FEET. OFFICIALS IN THE COUNTIES AND AT THE CHEROKEE DISPATCH HAD 
RECEIVED NO OTHER REPORTS OF FLOODING.

THE WARNING WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL EXPIRATION...BECAUSE SOME 
SMALL CREEKS AROUND THE AREA COULD STILL BE IN FLOOD.

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.

$$
JONES

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2002 Every 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.