Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 33, NWS Baltimore/Washington

June 18, 2002Greene County, Virginia

NWS Baltimore/Washington issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 2002, 8:52 PM EDT for Greene County, Virginia. It was in force for 2 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: Jun 18, 2002, 8:52 PM EDT (00:52 UTC)
Expired: Jun 18, 2002, 11:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Baltimore/Washington
Area: Whole counties

County Greene County, VA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:51 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 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 1178 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1235 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KLWX 190055 CCA
FFWLWX
VAC079-190300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON...CORRECTION TYPO
852 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  GREENE COUNTY IN CENTRAL VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 1100 PM EDT.

* AT 846 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A     
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF   
  STANARDSVILLE.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE
WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH 
FLOODING IN GREENE COUNTY.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED. MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.

$$

LAT...LON 3840 7848 3827 7862 3819 7838 3827 7833

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 Jun 18, 2:32 PM EDT, 6 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 2:32 PM EDT, 6 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
232 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 2002

SHORT TERM...TONIGHT AND WED...
LINGERING UPR LVL TROF AXIS REMAINS JUST NW OF THE AREA TNGT BEFORE
FINALLY SWINGING THRU THE AREA ON TUE. ETA MODEL AND ITS MOS SEEMS
OVERDONE WITH ITS CATEGORICAL POPS AND HIGH QPF TNGT. HOWEVER...WITH
TROF NEARBY...WILL GO WITH CHC POPS BFR MIDNIGHT THEN ANOTHER CHC OF
TSRA WED AFTRN.

ETA/NGM AND AVN MOS TEMPS CLOSE AND ACCEPTED WITH ONLY MINOR
ADJUSTMENTS.

WALSTON

LONGER TERM...
S/WV ROUNDS BEND WED EVE...PROVIDING FOCUS FOR TSRA. LI/S SUBZERO...
AND B+ RSNBL TIL SUNSET...INDC ONCE DIURNAL PUSH DONE...STORMS WL
DIMINISH. GIVEN INSTAB OF ATMOS AND PRESENCE OF TRIGGER...WL INCL
SCT 30 POP FOR EVE ONLY.

H5 RDG OVR MO WED NGT...BUT IT BLDS NEWD THRU END OF WK. CWFA ENDS
UP IN STRENGTHENING ESELY FLW. THE COMBO SHUD ACT TO STBLZ ATMOS AND
SUPRESS ACTVTY ACRS NRN 2/3RD OF AREA...BUT SRN 1/3 STILL APPRS TO
BE IN A RSNBL AMT OF INSTAB. PLUS...RIVER/BAY BRZ BNDRYS WL ACT TO
FOCUS WHATEVER GETS GOING. THUS...WL ADD CHC POPS TO SOUTH FOR THU
AFTN/EVE AS WELL.

XTNDD...THE UPR RDG SINKS TO THE SE...FRTHR SUPRESSING ANY TSRA
ACTVTY. HWVR...AREA EVENTUALLY WINDS UP IN SWLY FLW. THIS WL BRING
MUCH WRMR/HUMID CONTS BY SUN...AND CHC POPS AGN BY TUE.

HTS

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 18, 8:05 PM EDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON
805 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 2002

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

0803 PM    STANDARDSVILLE            VA   .88 INCH HAIL
06/18/02   GREENE                         REPORTED BY SHERIFF

STRONG

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.