Alert archive / Ohio / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 21, NWS Cleveland, OH

July 23, 2003Portage County, Ohio

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Jul 23, 2003, 2:23 PM EDT for Portage County, Ohio. 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 23, 2003, 2:23 PM EDT (18:23 UTC)
Expired: Jul 23, 2003, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Cleveland, OH
Area: Whole counties

County Portage County, OH

The radar

The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 62 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:23 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 125 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: 24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 6 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 KCLE 231826
FFWCLE
OHC133-232130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
223 PM EDT WED JUL 23 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS UPGRADED THE FLOOD 
WARNING TO A 

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  PORTAGE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OHIO...

* IN EFFECT UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 218 PM EDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED...THUNDERSTORMS WITH 
HEAVY RAIN OCCURRING IN CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PORTAGE COUNTY.  THE 
STORMS WERE NEARLY STATIONARY.  RADAR ESTIMATES UP TO 2 INCHES MAY 
HAVE ALREADY FALLEN SINCE 1 PM TO GO ALONG WITH THE HEAVY RAINS FROM 
THE PAST FEW DAYS.  RAPID RISES IN WATER LEVELS IN SMALL STREAMS 
WILL OCCUR.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED INCLUDE...
  GARRETTSVILLE
  KENT
  MANTUA
  RAVENNA
  STREETSBORO

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY
ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS AND OTHER
LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

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.
$$
ADAMS

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KCLE 231918
FFSCLE
OHC133-232130-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
309 PM EDT WED JUL 23 2003

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR PORTAGE COUNTY UNTIL 530 PM...

MORE TORRENTIAL RAIN HAS FALLEN THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS CENTRAL 
PORTAGE COUNTY FROM RAVENNA NORTHEAST TO NEAR HIRAM.  RADAR 
ESTIMATES OF OVER THREE INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN LESS THAN 90 
MINUTES.  RAINFALL RATES HAVE DIMINISHED TO ONLY AN INCH PER HOUR 
BUT NEAR CATASTROPHIC FLOODING IS LIKELY JUST NORTHEAST OF RAVENNA.

THE NEW FLOODING IS FORCING APARTMENT EVACUATIONS IN RAVENNA.

THIS MOST RECENT ROUND OF RAIN HAS PRODUCE NEARLY IMMEDIATE RUNOFF 
AND FLOODING DUE SATURATED GROUND.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE FLASH 
FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. 
ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS 
AND STREAMS AND OTHER LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

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.

BE SURE TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM STORM DRAINS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 9:33 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Mahoning	6 hr
Jul 23, 5:30 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Portage	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Ohio, 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.