Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 114, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 10, 2003, 5:27 PM EDT for Buncombe County, McDowell 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 10, 2003, 5:27 PM EDT (21:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 10, 2003, 8:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Buncombe County, NC, McDowell County, NC
The nearest sounding before it
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 221 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 627 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -58 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 647 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 19 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 18 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS52 KGSP 102128 FFWGSP NCC021-111-110015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 527 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... MCDOWELL COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA EASTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 815 PM EDT * AT 525 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SLOWLY MOVING THUNDERSTORMS COVERING EASTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY...AND WESTERN MCDOWELL COUNTY...BETWEEN BLACK MOUNTAIN AND OLD FORT... AND SOUTH OF OLD FORT TO THE BORDER WITH RUTHERFORD COUNTY. THE HEAVIEST RAIN HAD FALLEN OVER THE FORESTED LAND OF THE PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST...WITH RADAR ESTIMATING AS MUCH AS 3 INCHES OF RAIN IN WESTERN MCDOWELL COUNTY SINCE EARLY AFTERNOON. NEARLY TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN IN THE VICINITY OF BLACK MOUNTAIN. THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AS THEY MOVE SLOWLY EASTWARD. * SIGINIFICANT RISES CAN BE EXPECTED ON SHALLOWER STREAMS AND CREEKS BETWEEN BLACK MOUNTAIN AND OLD FORT...AS WELL AS IN CAMPGROUND AREAS. CREEKS ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING INCLUDE MILL...NEWBERRY...AND CROOKED CREEKS IN MCDOWELL COUNTY...AND CAMP BRANCH AND CEDAR CREEKS IN EASTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY. URBAN FLOODING IS LIKELY IN BLACK MOUNTAIN...AND OLD FORT. STANDING WATER IS LIKELY ON INTERSTATE 40. 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. EVEN MODERN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES CANNOT BE SAFELY DRIVEN THROUGH FLOOD WATERS. TO REPORT FLOODING HAVE THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG. $$ BURRUS
1 follow-up statement
000 WGUS72 KGSP 102224 FFSGSP NCC021-111-110015- FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 623 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003 ...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 815 PM EDT FOR MCDOWELL AND EASTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTIES... AT 620 PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING OVER THE WARNING AREA. THE HEAVIEST RAIN...HOWEVER...HAD SHIFTED INTO CENTRAL AND EASTERN MCDOWELL COUNTY. LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN WAS FALLING FROM EASTERN BUNCOMBE COUNTY INTO WESTERN MCDOWELL COUNTY. RADAR TRENDS SUGGEST THAT RAINFALL WILL LINGER OVER THE WARNING AREA FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. IN MCDOWELL COUNTY...URBAN FLOODING WAS UNDERWAY IN OLD FORT. OFFICIALS REPORT MILL CREEK STILL WITHIN BANKS BUT RISING. FLOODING HAD ALSO DEVELOPED IN GREENLEE...THOUGH OFFICIALS COULD NOT VERIFY WHETHER IT WAS DUE TO OVERFLOWING DRAINAGE DITCHES OR FROM EXCESS WATER FROM EITHER THE CATAWBA RIVER OR JAKES CREEK. PISGAH FOREST CAMPERS IN THE VICINITY OF CURTIS CREEK SHOULD MONITOR WATER LEVELS FREQUENTLY IN CASE FLOODING APPEARS IMMINENT. NO FLOODING HAD YET BEEN REPORTED TO OFFICIALS IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY FROM LOCATIONS FROM BLACK MOUNTAIN TO THE MCDOWELL COUNTY LINE. HOWEVER...FLOODING IS STILL POSSIBLE IN A FEW LOCATIONS AS HEAVY RAIN WORKS ITS WAY THROUGH STREAM BASINS. DO NOT BECOME A FATALITY DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS...THE ROAD COULD BE WASHED OUT FROM THE FLOW OF THE WATER...AND YOUR CAR COULD BE SWEPT AWAY BY THE SWIFTLY MOVING WATER. PEOPLE IN THE WARNED AREA...ESPECIALLY CAMPERS...SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW...DO NOT DELAY. WATER MAY RISE TOO QUICKLY FOR YOU TO GET OUT OF DANGER LATER. TO REPORT FLOODING HAVE THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG. $$ BURRUS
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 10, 1:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 32 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 1:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 32 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 155 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003 FREEZING LEVEL A BIT LOWER WITH SLIGHTLY DRYER AIR MOVING IN AT MID LEVELS. UPPER TROF STILL SPINNING WEAK VORT LOBES THRU AREA AND EXPECT ANOTHER ROUND OF AT LEAST SCT TSTMS THROUGH THIS EVE. NOT MUCH CHANGE IN THE PATTERN FOR THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS...THEN THE S PART OF THE UPPER TROF THAT HAS BEEN KEEPING THE SE U.S. IN MOIST UNSTABLE FLOW IS FCST TO CUT OFF AND MOVE W...WITH THE N PART FILLING. AS THIS HAPPENS THE BERMUDA HIGH WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA TOWARD MID WEEK. THERE WILL STILL BE A LOW CHANCE OF LATE DAY TSTMS...BUT COVERAGE SHOULD BE LESS. GFS STILL HINTING AT A TROPICAL WAVE APPROACHING THE FAR SE U.S. BY THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK...WHICH COULD AFFECT WEATHER HERE NEXT WEEKEND OR LATER. FCSTID = 77 GSP 67 85 67 86 / 50 40 40 30 AND 67 86 68 86 / 50 40 40 30 CLT 67 85 67 86 / 50 40 40 30 HKY 64 84 65 85 / 60 50 50 30 AVL 62 81 63 82 / 60 50 50 30 .GSP... GA...NONE. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ034>035...NCZ054>056. SC...NONE. RB
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 10, 6:21 AM EDT, 11 hours 6 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-101215- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 621 AM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT TODAY AND TONIGHT IN THE NORTHERN FOOTHILLS OF NORTH CAROLINA...FROM MCDOWELL COUNTY TO CALDWELL COUNTY...AND IN ALEXANDER AND CATAWBA COUNTIES. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST FOR MOST OF THE AREA THROUGH NEXT SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. 07
In the hours before
Local storm report, Aug 10, 3:28 PM EDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
328 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
320 PM TIGER GA 1/2 INCH HAIL
08/10/03 RABUN EMERGENCY PERSONNEL
REPORTED BETWEEN PEA AND
DIME SIZE HAIL.
RBThe office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 7:55 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Iredell, Rowan | 2 hr |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2003Every 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.