Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 19, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at May 6, 2003, 6:05 AM EDT for 5 counties in North Carolina. It was in force for 4 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
- May 6, 2003, 6:05 AM EDT (10:05 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 2003, 10:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Graham County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Macon County, NC, Swain County, NC
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:08 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 00:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 245 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
- 1313 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -36 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 782 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 211 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 399 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.1
- Supercell composite
- 11.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS52 KGSP 061006 FFWGSP NCC075-087-099-113-173-061400- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 605 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... HAYWOOD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA SWAIN COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA GRAHAM COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA MACON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA JACKSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 1000 AM EDT * AT 600 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...EXTENDING FROM THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS IN NORTH CAROLINA...ALL THE WAY THROUGH EAST TENNESSEE...INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND NORTH ALABAMA. MANY OF THESE STORMS WILL AFFECT WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA THIS MORNING. * THE GRADUAL RISES ON AREA STREAMS WHICH HAS CAUSED SIGNIFICANT FLOODING OVERNIGHT...WILL BECOME RAPID RISES THIS MORNING...CREATING VERY DANGEROUS AND RAPIDLY DEVELOPING FLASH FLOODING ALONG SOME MOUNTAIN STREAMS. THE DANGER OF FLASH FLOODING...MUDSLIDES...AND ROCKSLIDES...WILL INCREASE QUICKLY THIS MORNING. FOR SOME AREAS...THIS WILL BECOME A VERY SERIOUS AND LIFE THREATENING FLASH FLOOD SITUATION. MOST FLASH FLOOD FATALITIES ARE VEHICLE RELATED. SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS THIS MORNING SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY ALERT. CAMPERS ALONG STREAMS SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. PEOPLE LIVING IN FLOOD PRONE AREAS SHOULD BE READY TO MOVE QUICKLY TO HIGHER GROUND. PEOPLE SHOULD WATCH DAMS CAREFULLY FOR OVERFLOW AND BREAKS. THIS REPLACES THE FLOOD WARNING PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE SAME COUNTIES. $$ JONES
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 May 6, 5:58 AM EDT, 7 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 6, 5:58 AM EDT, 7 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
558 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003
S AND SE CWA HAS STABILIZED SINCE EARLIER THIS MORNING. STRONG TSTMS
HAVE MOVED E AND HAVE NOT REDEVELOPED. WILL UPDATE FORECAST TO
REMOVE TORNADO WATCH.
.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017>018...GAZ026...
GAZ028>029.
NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES NCZ033>037...NCZ048>059...
NCZ062>072...NCZ082.
SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY FOR ZONES SCZ001>014...SCZ019.
RBHazardous weather outlook, May 6, 4:40 AM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 440 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY...SOME WITH TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE...ESPECIALLY LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY TODAY.
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 6, 12:55 AM EDT, 5 hours 10 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1255 AM EDT TUE MAY 06 2003
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1245 AM 1 S DUNCAN SC 70 MPH TSTM GUST
05/06/03 SPARTANBURG AMATEUR RADIO REPORT
ESTIMATED WIND TO 70 MPH
JONESSpecial weather statement, May 6, 4:03 AM EDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-061500- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 403 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 ...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE AGAIN TODAY ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING. A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...PARTICULARLY IN AREAS SOUTH OF I-85. TODAY...A WARM FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO LIFT SLOWLY NORTH ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. THIS WILL ALLOW WARMER AND MORE MOIST AIR TO SPREAD OVER THE REGION...RESULTING IN A GRADUAL DESTABILIZATION OF THE ATMOSPHERE AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. A SERIES OF WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY... WHICH WILL RESULT IN CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INTO THE AFTERNOON. WITH AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE...SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH SEVERE LEVELS...AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL IN ADDITION TO DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. FLOODING AND FLASH FLOODING IS ALREADY OCCURRING ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA THIS MORNING...AND WITH PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY THIS WILL REMAIN A CONCERN. A FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR TODAY FOR ALL OF THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND NORTHEAST GEORGIA. SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO ACTIVATE AT JUST ABOUT ANYTIME TODAY. DISPATCHERS SHOULD ENSURE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION. LANE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 10:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Macon | 50 min |
| May 5, 11:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Jackson | 41 min |
| May 6, 8:00 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Buncombe, Madison | 4 hr |
| May 6, 10:02 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain | 118 min |
| May 6, 12:00 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Buncombe, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon and 3 more | 4 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.