Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 97, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

July 31, 2003McDowell County, Rutherford County, North Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 2003, 12:10 AM 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 31, 2003, 12:10 AM EDT (04:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 2003, 3:15 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 04:12 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, 4.2 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KGSP 310416
FFWGSP
NCC111-161-310715-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1210 AM EDT THU JUL 31 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG HAS EXTENDED

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  MCDOWELL COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA 
  RUTHERFORD COUNTY IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 315 AM EDT

* AT 1205 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SWATH OF
  VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...WITH ISOLATED RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF 5 TO 6   
  INCHES...ACROSS SOUTHERN MCDOWELL AND WESTERN RUTHERFORD COUNTIES. 
  ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WITH HOURLY RAINFALL RATES UP TO ONE AND  
  ONE HALF INCHES ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP ACROSS THE WARNED AREA.

* FLOODING CONTINUES IN THE SUGAR HILL AREA OF MCDOWELL COUNTY AND   
  FLOODING PROBLEMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP INTO PARTS OF RUTHERFORD     
  COUNTY AS WELL.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

$$

55

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS72 KGSP 310625
FFSGSP
NCC111-161-310715-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
225 AM EDT THU JUL 31 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 315 AM EDT FOR MCDOWELL AND 
RUTHERFORD COUNTIES...

RAINFALL HAD DECREASED OVER MCDOWELL AND RUTHERFORD COUNTIES. RUNOFF 
FROM HEAVY RAIN THAT OCCURRED EARLIER WILL CONTINUE...AND MAY CAUSE 
FURTHER RISES IN STREAMS AND CREEKS.

SEVERAL ROADS WERE REPORTED FLOODED NEAR SUGAR HILL IN MCDOWELL 
COUNTY...WHILE MINOR FLOODING WAS REPORTED JUST WEST OF 
RUTHERFORDTON IN RUTHERFORD COUNTY.

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.

$$
07

000 
WGUS72 KGSP 310716
FFSGSP
NCC111-161-310730-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
315 AM EDT THU JUL 31 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR MCDOWELL AND 
RUTHERFORD COUNTIES HAS EXPIRED AS OF 315 AM EDT...

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN
THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...ENDING THE
FLASH FLOOD THREAT. EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS WERE RECEDING...
SOME ROADWAYS STILL MAY BE COVERED WITH WATER. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED
TO AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.

$$
07

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, 10:19 PM EDT, 1 hour 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 30, 10:19 PM EDT, 1 hour 51 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
1019 PM EDT WED JUL 30 2003

EXTREMELY BUSY WITH FFW/S THIS EVENING...HAVE ISSUED UPDATED
FFA TO EXTEND THRU TONIGHT & ADDED MCDOWELL COUNTY AS WELL.
KGSP VWP INDICATES VERY FAVORABLE DEEP SSE FLOW FOR CONTINUED
REDEVELOPMENT WITH 00Z AREA SNDGS INDICATING PWATS AROUND 130
PERCENT OF NORMAL. WILL ALSO NEED TO MONITOR OUTFLOW DRIVEN
TSTMS EXTENDING EAST TOWARD CLT AS WELL...BUT THIS AREA IS
PROPAGATING INTO A MORE STABLE AIRMASS AS PER LATEST MSAS...
SO HOPEFULLY AREAL EXTENT OF HEAVY RAIN THREAT EAST OF THE
WATCH AREA WILL BE MORE LIMITED. OTHERWISE...AS FAR AS POP
GRIDS GO TONIGHT...WILL OBVIOUSLY BE INCREASING IN MANY AREAS
BASED ON CURRENT COVERAGE AND CONTINUED UPSLOPE AND ALSO
FOR POTENTIAL INCREASE IN LLVL UPGLIDE FLOW EXPECTED
OVERNIGHT STARTING THE FAR WEST.

FCSTID = 55
GSP   70  86  71  86 / 100  60  60  50
AND   71  88  72  87 /  70  60  60  40
CLT   70  86  71  87 / 100  60  60  50
HKY   67  83  69  84 /  40  60  60  50
AVL   66  82  67  82 /  50  60  60  40

.GSP...
GA...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES GAZ010...GAZ017>018.
NC...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES NCZ054-NCZ063>067.
SC...FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ZONES SCZ001>007.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 30, 4:30 AM EDT, 19 hours 40 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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 30, 11:16 PM EDT, 54 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
1116 PM EDT WED JUL 30 2003

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1050 PM    10 S MONROE               NC   FLASH FLOOD
07/30/03   UNION                          WATER ACROSS ROCKY RIVER
                                          ROAD SOUTH CAUSED CAR TO
                                          STALL OUT.

1110 PM    SANS SOUCI                NC   FLASH FLOOD
07/30/03   GREENVILLE                     WATER FILLED BASEMENT OF
                                          HOME AND WAS UP TO
                                          KITCHEN

RBN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 30, 9:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GSP	McDowell, Rutherford	3 hr
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

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2003 Every 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.