Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 50, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 1, 2003Wake County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 1, 2003, 8:57 PM EDT for Wake County, North Carolina. It was in force for 2 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: Aug 1, 2003, 8:57 PM EDT (00:57 UTC)
Expired: Aug 1, 2003, 11:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Wake County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:01 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, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 1624 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KRAH 020057
FFWRAH
NCC183-020300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
857 PM EDT FRI AUG 1 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS EXTENDED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN WAKE COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1100 PM EDT

* AT 852 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED     
  ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH LOCALLY VERY HEAVY RAIN  
  MOVING INTO SOUTHEASTERN WAKE COUNTY FROM THE SOUTHWEST.

WEATHER RADAR ESTIMATES AND SPOTTER MEASUREMENTS INDICATE THAT 
WIDESPREAD RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF THREE TO FOUR INCHES HAVE OCCURRED IN 
SOUTHEASTERN WAKE COUNTY.  LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OF SIX TO EIGHT INCHES 
MAY HAVE OCCURRED IN SOME SPOTS...BETWEEN GARNER AND WENDELL... 
INCLUDING THE SHOTWELL AREA.  SOME ROADS HAVE BEEN REPORTED FLOODED 
IN THE WARNING AREA.

MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER IS USUALLY DEEPER
THAN IT APPEARS. JUST ONE FOOT OF FLOWING WATER IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO
SWEEP MOST VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER
SHOULD BE ABANDONED.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS NOW AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE 
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. 

$$

RFG

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KRAH 020300
FFSRAH
NCC183-020400-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
1100 PM EDT FRI AUG 1 2003

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING ISSUED EARLIER TONIGHT FOR SOUTHEASTERN WAKE 
COUNTY HAS EXPIRED BUT A FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES OVERNIGHT FOR THE 
ENTIRE AREA IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA.

AT 1055 PM EDT WEATHER RADAR INDICATED THE HEAVY RAIN HAS DECREASED 
AND HAS MOVED EAST OF THE PREVIOUSLY WARNED AREA OF WAKE COUNTY.  
HOWEVER...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND SOUTHWARD INTO 
SOUTH CAROLINA AND CONTINUE TO DRIFT NORTHWARD.  THE AIRMASS REMAINS 
VERY MOIST AND ANY SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY 
HEAVY RAINFALL.

RESIDUAL RUNOFF FROM THE FOUR PLUS INCHES OF RAINFALL IN SOME PARTS 
OF SOUTHEASTERN WAKE COUNTY MAY CONTINUE TO CAUSE RISES ON AREA 
STREAMS AND CREEKS AND WATER ON ROADS.  

MOTORISTS IN THE AREA LATE TONIGHT ARE ADVISED TO USE EXTREME 
CAUTION BECAUSE AT NIGHT...IT IS DIFFICULT TO SEE WATER ON THE ROADS 
AND HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. 
MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. 
$$
RFG

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.