Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 22, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at May 6, 2003, 12:00 PM EDT for 9 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, 12:00 PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 2003, 4:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Buncombe County, NC, Graham County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Macon County, NC, Madison County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:04 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, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 265 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
- 386 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -36 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 521 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 264 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS52 KGSP 061608 FFWGSP NCC021-075-087-089-099-113-115-173-175-062000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1200 PM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... MADISON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA BUNCOMBE COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA HAYWOOD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA SWAIN COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA HENDERSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA GRAHAM COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA MACON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA JACKSON COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 400 PM EDT * AT 1158 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN ACROSS THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS...WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN MOVING EAST FROM SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE. THE RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE COULD PRODUCE ANOTHER INCH OF RAIN OVER THE MOUNTAINS BY 1 PM. * COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS CENTERS REPORT NEARLY ALL STREAMS ARE OUT OF THEIR BANKS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS. AS RAINFALL RATES INCREASE...THE FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BECOME WORSE AND THE DANGER OF FLASH FLOODING...MUDSLIDES...AND ROCKSLIDES...WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. FOR SOME AREAS...THIS WILL BECOME A VERY SERIOUS AND LIFE THREATENING FLASH FLOOD SITUATION. 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. 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. $$ MOORE
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, 10:32 AM EDT, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 6, 10:32 AM EDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1032 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 AT 14Z...CWFA LOOKS TO BE SOUTH OF MAIN SYNOPTIC SCALE BNDRY...WITH SSW SFC WINDS AT MOST STATIONS. AMOUNT OF DESTABILIZATION THIS AFTERNOON STILL QUITE UNCERTAIN WITH ENCROACHING CLDS AND PCPN THANKS TO APPROACHING MCS. 12Z 850 MB ANALYSIS DOES INDICATE A FAVORABLE THERMAL/MOISTURE PROFILE FOR DESTABILIZATION...ROUGHLY ALONG NEW SPC DAY 1 SLT RISK...THRU NE GA...THE UPSTATE TO AROUND CLT METRO. WILL UPDATE SVR WX OUTLOOK TO REFINE CURRENT THINKING... FOR A THREAT A FEW LATE DAY OR EVENING SVR STORMS. WILL MENTION THREAT OF BOTH DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...BUT NOT TERRIBLY IMPRESSED WITH PARAMETERS FOR EITHER OF THESE WITH HIGH WBZ HEIGHTS AND LOW THETA-E LAPSES GIVEN MOIST SNDGS. ALSO PLAN ON NOT MAKING CHGS TO GOING FLOOD WATCH ALTHOUGH OBVIOUS SHORT TERM THREAT WILL REMAIN LIMITED TO THE MOUNTAINS GIVEN LARGE SCALE PATTERN OF BROAD WSW FLOW. FCSTID = 55 GSP 78 63 82 62 / 90 40 40 40 AND 79 63 83 61 / 90 40 40 40 CLT 80 62 83 62 / 90 40 40 40 HKY 76 61 80 61 / 100 40 40 40 AVL 73 58 78 57 / 100 50 50 40 .GSP... GA...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY GAZ010-017>018-GAZ026-GAZ028>029. NC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082. SC...FLOOD WATCH FOR TODAY SCZ001>014-019.
Hazardous weather outlook, May 6, 4:40 AM EDT, 7 hours 20 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
Special weather statement, May 6, 6:13 AM EDT, 5 hours 47 minutes before
NCZ082-SCZ011>014-019-061045- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 613 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 TORNADO WATCH #261 THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR ABBEVILLE...GREENWOOD... LAURENS...UNION...AND CHESTER COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA...AND FOR UNION COUNTY IN NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN CANCELED. THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED FOR THE TIME BEING...BUT THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER TODAY. LANE
Special weather statement, May 6, 10:47 AM EDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-062100- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 1047 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE LATER TODAY OR TONIGHT... WIDESPREAD RAIN WITH A FEW EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE WESTERN CAROLINAS AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS. THIS COVERAGE OF PRECIPITATION WILL SLOW WARMING AND DEGREE OF DESTABILIZATION. RAIN IS EXPECTED TO DIMINISH LATER THIS AFTERNOON...POSSIBLY FOLLOWED BY SOME CLEARING. IF RAIN ENDS AND CLEARING OCCURS SOON ENOUGH...THE ATMOSPHERE COULD BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT... WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND BEING THE BIGGEST THREAT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR FAVORITE MEDIA OUTLET FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/GSP
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, 6:05 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain | 4 hr |
| 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 |
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.