Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 23, NWS Charleston, WV

July 2, 2002Randolph County, West Virginia

NWS Charleston, WV issued this flash flood warning at Jul 2, 2002, 8:15 PM EDT for Randolph 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, 8:15 PM EDT (00:15 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2002, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Charleston, WV
Area: Whole counties

County Randolph County, WV

The radar

The Charleston,WV radar (KRLX), 169 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:17 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 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 178 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: 1071 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1137 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 99 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 030015 CCA
FFWRLX
WVC083-030245-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1045 PM EDT...

* AT 745 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY
  RAIN OVER SOUTH CENTRAL RANDOLPH COUNTY...OR ABOUT 26 MILES        
  SOUTH OF ELKINS...MOVEMENT IS NEARLY STATIONARY.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH INCLUDE...MINGO...VALLEY HEAD...AND 
CHEAT BRIDGE.  

DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES A BROAD AREA OF ONE AND A HALF TO TWO INCHES 
OF RAIN OVER EXTREME SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY.  SHOWERS AND 
THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY OVER THAT AREA...COMBINE THAT 
WITH A TROPICAL AIRMASS IN PLACE...HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL CONTINUE FOR 
THE NEXT FEW HOURS.    

--CALL TO ACTION-- BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER
TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH
FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE
FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER
BEGINS RISING.

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.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 6:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	McDowell	39 min
Jul 3, 6:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RLX	McDowell	3 hr
Jul 3, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RLX	Wyoming	32 min

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.