Alert archive / Tennessee / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 33, NWS Morristown, TN

August 18, 2002Morgan County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this flash flood warning at Aug 18, 2002, 6:55 PM EDT for Morgan County, Tennessee. 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: Aug 18, 2002, 6:55 PM EDT (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 2002, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Morgan County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 2055 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 662 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 13 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 
WGUS54 KMRX 182255
FFWMRX
TNC129-190100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
654 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  MORGAN COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE

* UNTIL 900 PM EDT

* AT 650 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN NEAR SUNBRIGHT...OR 7 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF WARTBURG.  THE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING THE FLASH FLOOD
  WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
  SUNBRIGHT
  WARTBURG

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR HAS ESTIMATED THAT UP TO 3 
INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN OVER THE PAST HOUR. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 
INCHES OF RAIN ARE EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT HOUR.

AT 651 PM EDT LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED STANDING WATER ACROSS
SEVERAL ROADWAYS NEAR THE SUNBRIGHT AREA.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE SOME FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...THIS
STORM WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF COUNTRY ROADS...FARMLANDS...AND OTHER
LOW LYING AREAS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO FLOODING. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS
BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. 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.

$$

LAT...LON 3630 8471 3612 8475 3610 8455 3621 8456

DH

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS74 KMRX 182337
FFSMRX
TNC129-190000-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
734 PM EDT SUN AUG 18 2002

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR MORGAN COUNTY HAS BEEN CANCELED...

AT 730 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE 
RAINFALL HAS DECREASED TO LIGHT RAIN ACROSS THE WARNED AREA...AND THE 
FLOOD THREAT WAS DIMINISHING. SOME MINOR FLOODING MAY CONTINUE...BUT 
THE THREAT OF SERIOUS FLOODING HAS ENDED. THEREFORE THE FLASH FLOOD 
WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELED.

AT 730 PM EDT LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED THAT THE PONDING OF 
AREA ROADWAYS NEAR THE SUNBRIGHT AREA WAS SUBSIDING.  

$$

DH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 2:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Sequatchie	30 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Tennessee, 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.