Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 65, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 8, 2003Lee County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 8, 2003, 8:26 PM EDT for Lee 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 8, 2003, 8:26 PM EDT (00:26 UTC)
Expired: Aug 8, 2003, 10:30 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Lee County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:27 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, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 94 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: 960 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 905 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KRAH 090028
FFWRAH
NCC105-090230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
826 PM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  LEE COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1030 PM EDT

* AT 826 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER LEE COUNTY. ABOUT AN
  INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN NEAR SANFORD SINCE 730 PM. 
  AN ADDITIONAL INCH OF RAIN IS LIKELY THROUGH 930 PM. THIS SAME
  AREA EXPERIENCED FLOODING THIS MORNING.

* SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE FLOODING AROUND...
  TRAMWAY.
  SANFORD.
  CUMNOCK... AND ALONG LITTLE BUFFALO CREEK..

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.

$$

WSS

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KRAH 090136
FFSRAH
NCC105-090230-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
932 PM EDT FRI AUG 8 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR LEE COUNTY UNTIL 
1030 PM EDT...

AT 932 PM EDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WITH 
HEAVY RAIN HAVE EXITED LEE COUNTY.  HOWEVER WIDESPREAD FLOODING WAS 
OCCURRING IN THE CITY OF SANFORD. THE SANFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT 
REPORTED NUMEROUS ROADS CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER.  A COUPLE OF CARS 
WERE STALLED ON HORNER BOULEVARD. THUS... WHILE THE HEAVY RAIN HAS 
ENDED...THE RESIDUAL FLOODING EFFECTS WILL LINGER A LITTLE LONGER 
BEFORE THE WATER BEGINS TO SUBSIDE. 

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.

$$

WSS/MLM

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 8, 8:08 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Franklin	2 hr
Aug 8, 8:27 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Wake	2 hr
Aug 8, 10:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Franklin	88 min
Aug 9, 6:15 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Moore	90 min
Aug 9, 7:45 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Moore	75 min
Aug 9, 7:58 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Alamance	2 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.