Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 101, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

August 4, 2003Rutherford County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 4, 2003, 8:37 PM EDT for Rutherford County, North Carolina. 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: Aug 4, 2003, 8:37 PM EDT (00:37 UTC)
Expired: Aug 4, 2003, 11:30 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Rutherford County, NC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:38 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 197 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: 1386 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1048 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 40 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KGSP 050039
FFWGSP
NCC161-050330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
837 PM EDT MON AUG 4 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN RUTHERFORD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1130 PM EDT

* AT 835 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY       
  HEAVY RAIN FALLING OVER THE ROCKY BROAD RIVER BASIN.  EXTREMELY    
  HEAVY RAIN MAY CAUSE THE ROCKY BROAD RIVER TO FLOOD SEVERAL        
  CAMPGROUNDS NEAR THE LAKE LURE.  CHIMNEY ROCK AND HICKORY NUT      
  GORGE ALONG WITH BAT CAVE CAMPGROUND AREAS ARE ALSO PRONE TO       
  FLOODING ALONG THE ROCKY BROAD RIVER ALONG HIGHWAY 9 AND 74.


EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF CREEKS
AND STREAMS...ROADS AND ROADSIDE CULVERTS. THE HEAVY RAINS COULD ALSO
TRIGGER ROCK AND MUDSLIDES IN STEEP TERRAIN.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT. IT IS
IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO STREAMS...RIVERS...OR
CREEKS WHICH CAN BECOME KILLERS IN HEAVY RAINS. CAMPERS SHOULD AVOID
CAMPING ALONG STREAMS OR CREEKS DURING THREATENING RAINS.

$$
PAT

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KGSP 050328
FFSGSP
NCC161-050400-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1128 PM EDT MON AUG 4 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR RUTHERFORD COUNTY
HAS EXPIRED AS OF 1130 PM EDT...

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN
THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...ENDING THE
FLASH FLOOD THREAT. EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS WERE RECEDING...
SOME ROADWAYS STILL MAY BE COVERED WITH WATER. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED 
TO AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. 

DURING HEAVY RAIN EVENTS...SEVERE URBAN FLOODING CAN OCCUR IN AREAS
SUCH AS UNDERPASSES...AND LOW AREAS WHERE WATER TENDS TO COLLECT.
CHILDREN SHOULD BE KEPT AWAY FROM SMALL STREAMS AND STORM DRAINS.

$$
PT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Henderson	75 min
Aug 4, 8:06 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Buncombe, Henderson	3 hr
Aug 4, 8:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Polk, Rutherford	77 min
Aug 4, 9:22 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Union	3 hr
Aug 5, 3:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston, Lincoln	61 min
Aug 5, 4:07 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	Henderson	3 hr
Aug 5, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Gaston	49 min
Aug 5, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Mecklenburg	60 min
Aug 5, 5:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Iredell	52 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North 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.