Alert archive / Tennessee / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Morristown, TN

May 17, 2003Rhea County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this flash flood warning at May 17, 2003, 4:30 PM EDT for Rhea County, Tennessee. 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 outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2003, 4:30 PM EDT (20:30 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2003, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Morristown, TN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Rhea County, TN

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 129 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:33 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1273 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 140 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 
WGUS54 KMRX 172035
FFWMRX
TNC143-180000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
430 PM EDT SAT MAY 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  RHEA COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE

* UNTIL 800 PM EDT

* AT 430 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SERIES
OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING OVER NORTHERN RHEA COUNTY
IN THE PINEY RIVER AREA. THESE STORMS ARE REPEATEDLY DUMPING HEAVY RAIN
ON THE SAME LOCATION.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR HAS ESTIMATED THAT
UP TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN OVER THE PAST HOUR. ADDITIONAL 
EXCESSIVE RAIN WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ALONG SMALLER STREAMS FEEDING
THE PINEY RIVER...AND COULD CAUSE THE PINEY RIVER ITSELF TO FLOOD.

IN ADDITION...RUNOFF FROM THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE SOME FLOODING OF SMALL
HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLOODING
OF COUNTRY ROADS...FARMLANDS...AND OTHER LOW LYING AREAS THAT ARE SUBJECT
TO FLOODING. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF
WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.

MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS
BRIDGES...DIPS...OR OTHER LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
IF YOU COME TO A FLOODED OR CLOSED ROAD...TURN AROUND DONT DROWN

LAT...LON 3551 8512 3544 8502 3548 8492 3555 8489
          3558 8482 3570 8478 3573 8472 3582 8481
          3577 8490 3565 8498 3559 8509

$$

BB

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS74 KMRX 172336
FFSMRX
TNC001-013-129-143-145-151-180000-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
734 PM EDT SAT MAY 17 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR ROANE...RHEA...ANDERSON...MORGAN...
UNION...CAMPBELL...SCOTT AND MEIGS COUNTIES HAS BEEN CANCELED...

AT 734 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE
RAINFALL HAS ENDED OR DECREASED ACROSS THE WARNED AREA...AND THE FLOOD 
THREAT WAS DIMINISHING. SOME VERY MINOR FLOODING OCCURRED IN VARIOUS 
LOCATIONS...BUT THE THREAT OF SERIOUS FLOODING HAS ENDED. THEREFORE 
THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELED.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS STILL IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM.

IF YOU SEE WATER OVER A ROAD...OR A ROAD IS CLOSED...TURN AROUND DONT
DROWN ITS NOT WORTH RISKING. THE ROAD MIGHT NOT ACTUALLY BE THERE UNDER
THE WATER.

LAT...LON 3657 8402 3619 8398 3569 8457 3576 8467
          3545 8502 3552 8510 3576 8488 3658 8471

$$

BB

The office that day

Everything else NWS Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 12:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Blount	41 min
May 17, 3:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bledsoe	41 min
May 17, 3:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan	63 min
May 17, 3:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamilton, Meigs, Rhea	61 min
May 17, 3:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Scott	63 min
May 17, 4:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Roane	57 min
May 17, 4:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Bradley, McMinn	55 min
May 17, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Meigs	13 min
May 17, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Anderson, Campbell	58 min
May 17, 4:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Morgan	40 min
May 17, 4:53 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	MRX	Anderson, Campbell, Morgan, Roane, Scott	3 hr
May 17, 4:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Jefferson	47 min
May 17, 5:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Loudon	56 min
May 17, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Knox	64 min
May 17, 5:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Claiborne, Union	67 min
May 17, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Grainger	61 min
May 17, 6:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hamblen, Jefferson	61 min
May 17, 6:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MRX	Hancock, Hawkins	62 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Tennessee, 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.