Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 91, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 30, 2003, 9:17 PM EDT for McDowell County, 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
- Jul 30, 2003, 9:17 PM EDT (01:17 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 31, 2003, 12:15 AM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties McDowell County, NC, Rutherford County, NC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:18 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, 1.3 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -150 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 510 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 40 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 113 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS52 KGSP 310122 FFWGSP NCC111-161-310415- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 917 PM EDT WED JUL 30 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... MCDOWELL COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA RUTHERFORD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 1215 AM EDT * AT 908 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 2 AND 1/2 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER PARTS OF WESTER RUTHERFORD AND SOUTHERN MCDOWEEL COUNTIES AND MUCH MORE IS MOVING UP SLOWLY FROM THE SOUTH. * THIRSTY ROAD IN SOUTHER MCDOWELL COUNTY IS ALREADY FLOODED. A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. RESIDENTS LIVING ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS SWIFTLY FLOWING WATERS OR WATERS OF UNKNOWN DEPTH BY FOOT OR BY AUTOMOBILE. EVEN MODERN SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES CANNOT BE SAFELY DRIVEN THROUGH FLOOD WATERS. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. 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. $$ RBN
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 Jul 30, 3:45 PM EDT, 5 hours 32 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 30, 3:45 PM EDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 345 PM EDT WED JUL 30 2003 LAPS ANALYSIS SHOWS 10 KT SELY FLOW INTO THE SRN APPALACHIANS ATTM...WITH CAPE VALUES AROUND AROUND 2000 J/KG FEEDING INTO THIS AREA AS WELL. TSRA HAVE DEVELOPED IN THIS AXIS OF INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE. FLOW ALOFT IS WEAK OUT OF THE WEST...AROUND 10 KTS...RESULTING IN CELLS IN THE UPSLOPE AREAS THAT ARE VERY SLOW TO MOVE THIS AFTN. PW/S ARE AROUND 1.90 THIS AFTN. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND MORNING RAOBS SHOW QUITE A MOISTURE DISCONTINUITY ACROSS THE MTNS. THIS WEAK DRY AIR ENTRAINMENT ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO HELP STRENGTHEN OUTFLOW AND GRADUALLY PUSH THE HEAVIEST RAIN INTO THE WRN FOOTHILLS. WORKING ON THAT ASSUMPTION...HAVE HOISTED A FLOOD WATCH FOR THE SRN NC MTNS...THE FAR SW NC FOOTHILLS...NRN UPSTATE AND PARTS OF NE GA. FFW ALREADY OUT FOR RABUN COUNTY. FARTHER TO THE NE...LACK OF CONVERGENCE AND LIMITED HEATING UNDER THE SRN EXTENSION OF WEAK WEDGE RIDGE HAS LIMITED PCPN TO ONLY A FEW LGT SHRA. MODELS LIFT A WEAK TMB N OVERNGHT. HAVE THE LOWEST POPS IN THE NE ZONES...BUT EXPECT THAT THEY WL EVENTUALLY SEE SOMETHING AS THE TMB RETREATS. TO MAKE LIFE EVEN MORE INTERESTING...BOTH ETA AND GFS BRING SIG PCPN IN THE SW NC MTNS LATE TNGT IN THE FACE OF WEAK LLVL ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE. WE AND MRX SEEM TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE WITH THIS...AND HAVE GONE LIKELY POPS LATE TNGT IN THE FAR SW MTNS. IF THIS PCPN DOES DEVELOP...THIS WL BE ANOTHER AREA THAT WL HAVE TO BE WATCHED FOR FLOOD POTENTIAL. THE ETA...GFS AND FWC POPS ARE ALL IN THE LIKELY RANGE THU. PW/S ARE NEAR 2 INCHES. FORCING IS WEAK...THOUGH PVA DOES INCREASE IN THE LATE AFTN. LLVL FLOW BECOMES MORE SWLY IN THE AFTN...THOUGH FLOW IN THE IMMEDIATE LEE STILL SHOWS A BACKING TENDENCY. IN DEFERENCE TO THE HIGH POPS AND PROBABLY CONTINUED WEAK UPSLOPE...WENT WITH A LIKELY POP AGAIN TMRW AFTN AND EVENING. LOOKS LIKE MORE CONVECTION FRIDAY AS A BETTER SHORT WAVE CROSSES THE REGION...MID LEVELS DRY OUT AND STRONG LLVL CONVERGENCE DEVELOPS IN THE WRN ZONES. MORE OF THE SAME ON SAT...ONLY WITH STRONGER SHEAR. COULD BE MORE ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IF THE GFS VERIFIES ON SAT. FCSTID = 14 GSP 70 86 71 86 / 60 60 60 50 AND 71 88 72 87 / 60 60 60 40 CLT 70 86 71 87 / 60 60 60 50 HKY 68 83 69 84 / 40 60 60 50 AVL 66 82 67 82 / 50 60 60 40 .GSP... GA...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10 PM FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017>018. NC...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10 PM FOR ZONES NCZ063>067. SC...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 10 PM FOR ZONES SCZ001>007. MCAVOY
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 30, 4:30 AM EDT, 16 hours 47 minutes before
GAZ010-017-018-026-028-029-NCZ033>037-048>059-062>072-082-SCZ001>014- 019-301100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC 430 AM EDT WED JUL 30 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA... UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA...AND EXTREME NORTHEAST GEORGIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. RB
The office that day
Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 10:14 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Union | 3 hr |
| Jul 30, 10:28 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Polk | 3 hr |
| Jul 31, 12:10 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | McDowell, Rutherford | 3 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.