Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 21, NWS Blacksburg, VA

July 2, 2002Mercer County, West Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 2, 2002, 3:57 PM EDT for Mercer 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, 3:57 PM EDT (19:57 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2002, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Whole counties

County Mercer County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:00 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 KRNK 021957
FFWRNK
WVC055-022300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
357 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  MERCER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 357 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED VERY 
HEAVY RAIN MOVING INTO EXTREME NORTHWEST MERCER COUNTY. THIS AREA 
HAS ALREADY RECEIVED 2 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN. THIS ADDITIONAL HEAVY 
RAIN WILL LIKELY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ALONG CAMP CREEK AND MASH FORK.

* OTHER LOCATIONS THREATENED BY HEAVY RAIN INCLUDE...CAMP CREEK      
  STATE PARK...FLAT TOP.

<<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 QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

RELAY REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN IN
BLACKSBURG BY CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

$$

06

LAT...LON 3763 8110 3745 8124 3734 8113 3743 8096

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KRNK 022145
FFSRNK
WVC055-022245-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
545 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 2002

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR NORTHWEST MERCER COUNTY CANCELLED...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THE RAINFALL HAS ENDED 
ACROSS THE WARNED AREA...AND THE FLOOD THREAT HAS DIMINISHED. SOME 
MINOR FLOODING MAY CONTINUE...BUT THE THREAT OF SERIOUS FLOODING IS 
ENDING. THUS...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING IS BEING CANCELED.

AT 545 PM EDT...A WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED A SHARP RISE ALONG MASH 
FORK AT CAMP CREEK STATE PARK...BUT NO FLOODING. CAMP CREEK AND MASH 
FORK LIKELY FLOODED IN THE HEADWATERS OF EXTREME NORTHWEST MERCER 
COUNTY...BUT THERE HAVE BEEN NO REPORTS OF FLOODING.

RELAY YOUR REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY
CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

JJ

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 2:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Greenbrier	23 min
Jul 2, 2:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Summers	24 min
Jul 2, 2:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Greenbrier	30 min
Jul 2, 2:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Monroe	22 min
Jul 2, 3:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Monroe	30 min
Jul 2, 3:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Mercer	33 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.