Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 21, NWS Charleston, WV

July 2, 2002Raleigh County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Jul 2, 2002, 4:29 PM EDT for Raleigh County, West 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: Jul 2, 2002, 4:29 PM EDT (20:29 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2002, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Raleigh County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:28 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 1023 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1029 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 53 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 KRLX 022029
FFWRLX
WVC081-022330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
426 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  RALEIGH COUNTY IN WEST VIRGINIA...

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT...

* AT 423 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY
  RAIN OVER CRAB ORCHARD...OR ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF BECKLEY...MOVING
  SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING AREA INCLUDE COAL CITY...CRAB ORCHARD
  AND SOPHIA.

DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES OVER 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER 
SOUTHERN RALEIGH COUNTY.  WATER WAS REPORTED ALONG HIGHWAY 16 
IN THE SOPHIA VICINITY.  STORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE VERY SLOW AND 
REDEVELOP...ALL OF WHICH SPELL HEAVY RAIN CONTINUING FOR THE NEXT 
HOUR OR SO.

--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. 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. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS, ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY
AND SEEK HIGHER GROUND.

PLEASE REPORT HIGH WATER...HAIL OR STRONG WINDS TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE...877-633-6772...WHEN YOU CAN DO
SO SAFELY.

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KRLX 022201
FFSRLX
WVC081-022330-
FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
551 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 2002

THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR RALEIGH COUNTY.  

LOCALIZED DOWNPOURS FELL BETWEEN 3:30 AND 5:30 PM.  RAINS OF 2 TO 3
INCHES WERE SEEN IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE COUNTY...AROUND
SUCH COMMUNITIES AS CRAB ORCHARD...LESTER...AND CRAB ORCHARD.

ROAD AND BASEMENT FLOODING WAS REPORTED.  

A LULL IN THE RAIN WAS OCCURRING AROUND 6 OCLOCK.  
BETWEEN 6 AND 7 OCLOCK...MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD DRIFT 
SOUTH...INTO RALEIGH COUNTY...FROM FAYETTE COUNTY.  HOWEVER...A 
WEAKENING TREND IS EXPECTED...AS THE EVENING WEARS ON. 

--- CALL TO ACTION --- 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 IMMEDIATELY.

$$

END / KTB

The office that day

Everything else NWS Charleston, WV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 4:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Raleigh	43 min
Jul 2, 4:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Clay, Kanawha	40 min
Jul 2, 4:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Boone	27 min
Jul 2, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Nicholas	49 min
Jul 2, 5:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Logan	35 min
Jul 2, 6:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Pocahontas	28 min
Jul 2, 7:54 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	Randolph	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West 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.