Alert archive / South Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Charleston, SC

June 16, 2003Berkeley County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jun 16, 2003, 5:29 PM EDT for Berkeley County, South Carolina. 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 outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 16, 2003, 5:29 PM EDT (21:29 UTC)
Expired: Jun 16, 2003, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Berkeley County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:32 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

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 38 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: 1240 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -43 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KCHS 162130
FFWCHS
SCC015-162330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
529 PM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  BERKELEY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA...

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT.

* AT 529 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN OCCURRING OVER
  MONCKS CORNER. THE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING THE HEAVY RAIN ARE      
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH. RADAR ESTIMATES THAT AS MUCH AS 3 TO 4 
  INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN IN AND AROUND MONCKS CORNER OVER THE    
  PAST FEW HOURS.

* FLASH FLOODING WILL OCCUR IN AND AROUND...
  MONCKS CORNER AND PINOPOLIS...
  BONNEAU BEACH...
  BONNEAU...

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE RAPID FLOODING OF
ROADWAYS...SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...LOW-LYING AREAS AND DITCHES.

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
FOR HIGHER GROUND. MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.

LAT...LON 3323 8020 3305 8012 3327 7979 3340 7999

$$

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS72 KCHS 162243
FFSCHS
SCC015-162330-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
639 PM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR BERKELEY COUNTY UNTIL 730 PM...

AT 639 PM...CITY OFFICIALS IN MONCKS CORNER REPORT MINOR STREET 
FLOODING THROUGHOUT PARTS OF THE CITY AND SURROUNDING AREAS.  
DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES THAT THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED 
EAST OF THE AREA...BUT LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL 
ACROSS THE COUNTY.  THE FLOOD POTENTIAL WILL STILL EXIST OVER THE 
NEXT HOUR AS RAIN CONTINUES TO RUNOFF INTO STREETS AND LOW LYING 
AREAS. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING TO THE WEST MAY AFFECT 
BERKELEY COUNTY THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS.

MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN VEHICLES. DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS
WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY OR DIVE AROUND POLICE BARRICADES.
RAPIDLY RISING WATER CAN ENGULF A VEHICLE AND ITS OCCUPANTS. IF YOUR
VEHICLE STALLS IN WATER...ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK HIGHER
GROUND.

$$

PY

000 
WGUS72 KCHS 162353
FFSCHS
SCC015-162345-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
750 PM EDT MON JUN 16 2003

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR BERKELEY COUNTY ALLOWED TO EXPIRE...

AT 745 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT 
THE HEAVY RAIN THAT PROMPTED THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAD LESSENED 
AND MOVED OUT OF THE AREA. SCATTERED LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN WILL 
STILL PERSIST OVER PARTS OF THE COUNTY...THUS RESIDENTS AND 
MOTORISTS SHOULD TAKE PRECAUTIONS AND REMAIN AWAY FROM FLOOD PRONE 
SPOTS...BUT HIGH WATER WILL SLOWLY RECEDE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...TV...OR YOUR LOCAL NEWS SOURCE FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT
WCHS.CSC.NOAA.GOV.

$$

JPC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 16, 4:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	23 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in South Carolina, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.