Alert archive / South Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 14, NWS Charleston, SC

July 3, 2003Berkeley County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 3, 2003, 8:53 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: Jul 3, 2003, 8:53 PM EDT (00:53 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 2003, 11:00 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), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:53 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 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 37 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: 1931 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 873 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 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 
WGUS52 KCHS 040056
FFWCHS
SCC015-040300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
853 PM EDT THU JUL 3 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1100 PM EDT

* AT 853 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN OCCURRING OVER
  BETHERA. THE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING THE HEAVY RAIN ARE MOVING EAST
  AT 10 MPH.  RADAR ESTIMATES THAT AS MUCH AS 4 TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN  
  HAS FALLEN IN AND AROUND HIGHWAY 41 BETWEEN HUGER AND JAMESTOWN.   
  MORE SHOWERS AND STORMS ARE FORMING TO THE WEST NEAR MONCKS        
  CORNER.  THESE STORMS WILL TRAIN OVER THIS SAME AREA...PRODUCING   
  TORRENTIAL RAINS OVER THE NEXT HOUR.

* FLASH FLOODING WILL OCCUR IN AND AROUND...
  BETHERA...
  THOMAS CORNER...

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

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

LAT...LON 3318 7993 3313 7975 3324 7967 3327 7986

$$

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS72 KCHS 040153
FFSCHS
SCC015-040245-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
946 PM EDT THU JUL 3 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR BERKELEY COUNTY UNTIL
1100 PM EDT...

AT 946 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES A 
THUNDERSTORM WITH TORRENTIAL RAIN...BETWEEN CORDESVILLE AND HUGER IN 
BERKELEY COUNTY.  THIS STORM WHICH HAS BEEN NEARLY STATIONARY OVER 
THE PAST FEW HOURS...HAS PRODUCED DOPPLER ESTIMATES OF 3 TO 6 INCHES 
OF RAIN ALONG A LINE FROM OLD CORDESVILLE TO THOMAS CORNER.  THIS 
AREA INCLUDES HIGHWAY 41 JUST NORTH OF HUGER.  

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE LOCAL MEDIA FOR ADDITIONAL 
SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION. REPORT ANY FLOODING OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY 
FLOODING TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS AND ASK THEM TO 
IMMEDIATELY RELAY THE REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN 
CHARLESTON.

MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE WHERE
WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.

LAT...LON 3323 7964 3310 7970 3311 7994 3322 7989

$$

PY

000 
WGUS72 KCHS 040310
FFSCHS
SCC015-040330-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1102 PM EDT THU JUL 3 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR BERKELEY COUNTY HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO 
EXPIRE AT 11 PM...

AT 1102 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES THAT 
MOST OF THE SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS THE REGION HAS 
DISSIPATED.  BERKELEY COUNTY OFFICIALS INDICATED THAT WITHERBEE RD 
WAS FLOODED IN MANY SPOTS BETWEEN BETHERA AND WITHERBEE.  OTHER 
COUNTY ROADS MAY BE FLOODED IN AND AROUND WITHERBEE AS RADAR 
ESTIMATED AS MUCH AS 4 TO 8 INCHES OF RAIN MAY HAVE FALLEN IN THIS 
AREA.  FLOOD WATERS WILL CONTINUE TO RECEDE OVER THE NEXT FEW 
HOURS...AND THUS THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO 
EXPIRE.  

MOTORISTS SHOULD CONTINUE TO USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING IN AND AROUND 
HUGER...WITHERBEE...LIMERICK...AND CORDESVILLE...AS SOME WATER WILL 
REMAIN ON AREA ROADS FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 
FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION. 

$$

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.