Alert archive / Georgia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 14, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

April 21, 2003Elbert County, Georgia; Abbeville County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Apr 21, 2003, 5:57 PM EDT for Elbert County, Georgia; Abbeville County, South 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
Apr 21, 2003, 5:57 PM EDT (21:57 UTC)
Expired
Apr 21, 2003, 9:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

Counties Elbert County, GA, Abbeville County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:00 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 193 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-04-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 102 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 2003-04-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 99 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
102 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KGSP 212202
FFWGSP
GAC105-SCC001-220100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
557 PM EDT MON APR 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ELBERT COUNTY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA
  ABBEVILLE COUNTY IN UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 900 PM EDT

* AT 550 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN EAST-WEST
  ORIENTED LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM WEST OF GREENWOOD ALL
  THE WAY BACK TO NEAR COMMERCE GEORGIA. STORMS WILL CONTINUE MOVING
  EAST AT 30 MPH ACROSS THE WARNED COUNTIES THIS EVENING.

* DOPPLER RADAR RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF LOCALIZED 3 INCH AMOUNTS HAVE
  FALLEN WITHIN AN AREA FROM AROUND LOWNDESVILLE WEST TO NEAR BOWMAN.
  AN ADDITIONAL INCH OR TWO OF RAIN IS LIKELY ACROSS THIS AREA AS
  THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE IN FROM THE WEST.  

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.

$$

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 Apr 21, 3:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 21, 3:04 PM EDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
304 PM EDT MON APR 21 2003

LEADING AREA OF SHRA AND EMBEDDED TSRA MOVING OVER UPSTATE AND NC
PIEDMONT ATTM. ATMOS BECOMING MORE UNSTABLE OVER MTNS AND SRN
SECTIONS OF CWFA. SPC HAS OUTLOOKED NC MTNS FOR CONTINUED
POSSIBILITY OF ISOLATED SVR LATE THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE FROPA. WILL
LEAVE CHC POP THERE AND GO LIKELY POP EARLY GA/SC AND NC PIEDMONT.
LOWS TONIGHT WARMER ERN SECTIONS.

AFTER SOME WRAP AROUND CLOUDS AND POSSIBLY A SPRINKLE OR TWO NRN
MTNS EARLY TUE...TRANQUIL WX PATTERN SETS UP THRU WED NITE. DRY HIGH
PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE AREA. HIGHS NEAR OR JUST BELOW NORMAL WITH
BELOW NORMAL LOWS. IN FACT...WILL NEED TO WATCH FOR FROST NC MTNS
WED NITE. LIKELY TOO MUCH WIND TUE NITE...BUT WILL NEED TO KEEP IN
MIND.

MOISTURE RETURNS THU AHEAD OF THE NEXT WX SYSTEM THAT MOVES THRU THE
AREA SATURDAY. MDLS HINTING AT POSSIBLE PRECIP LATE THU/THU NITE.
THIS IS FASTER THAN PREVIOUS RUNS. WILL FOLLOW HPC LEAD LEAVE DRY
FOR NOW...CONFINING POPS TO FRI/SAT. COOL TEMPS DURING THE PRECIP
THEN WARMING TREND SUN/MON.

FCSTID =   81
GSP   52  72  43  71 /  40   0   0   0
AND   52  72  45  72 /  40   0   0   0
CLT   54  72  45  71 /  60   0   0   0
HKY   52  69  43  69 /  30   0   0   0
AVL   48  66  39  67 /  30  10   0   0

.GSP...
GA...NONE.
NC...NONE.
SC...NONE.

RWH
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 21, 5:54 AM EDT, 12 hours 3 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014-
019-211200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
554 AM EDT MON APR 21 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA...
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

AREAS OF DENSE FOG WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MID MORNING ACROSS THE
AREA TO THE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM CARNESVILLE TO HARTWELL...
ANDERSON...AND CLINTON. A DENSE FOG ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
10 AM. FOR MORE INFORMATION...SEE THE NPWGSP PRODUCT ISSUED AT 343
AM.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD
FRONT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS GENERALLY TO
THE NORTH OF A LINE FROM TAYLORSVILLE TO STATESVILLE AND
SALISBURY...BUT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ELSEWHERE
ACROSS THE REGION. FOR MORE DETAILS...SEE THE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
(SPSGSP) ISSUED AT 430 AM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

MOORE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 21, 5:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPElbert40 min
Apr 21, 6:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPElbert41 min
Apr 21, 5:45 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPAbbeville45 min
Apr 21, 6:05 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPGreenwood40 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Georgia, 2003Flash Flood Warnings in South 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.