Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 91, NWS Raleigh, NC

August 31, 2003Guilford County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at Aug 31, 2003, 4:58 PM EDT for Guilford County, North Carolina. It was in force for 62 min. 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 31, 2003, 4:58 PM EDT (20:58 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 2003, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Raleigh, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Guilford County, NC

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:01 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 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 10 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2003-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 992 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2003-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -33 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
992 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
780 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-71 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 KRAH 312102
FFWRAH
NCC081-312200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
458 PM EDT SUN AUG 31 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 600 PM EDT

* AT 458 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY
  HEAVY RAIN OVER GUILFORD COUNTY. EARLIER RAINS CAUSED FLOODING OF
  SEVERAL ROADS IN GREENSBORO... AND ADDITIONAL MODERATE RAIN 
  CONTINUES ACROSS THE COUNTY. BUFFALO CREEK IN GREENSBORO HAS BEEN
  REPORTED TO BE OUT OF ITS BANKS.

* ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL RUNOFF AND CAUSE FLOODING AROUND...
  STOKESDALE.
  MCLEANSVILLE.
  LAKE TOWNSEND.
  GREENSBORO.

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. IF YOU ENCOUNTER AREAS WHERE WATER 
COVERS THE ROAD... DONT TAKE CHANCES WITH YOUR LIFE. FIND AN 
ALTERNATE ROUTE. 

$$

11/12

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 31, 2:54 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHGuilford96 min
Aug 31, 3:43 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHDavidson62 min
Aug 31, 3:53 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHRandolph67 min
Aug 31, 4:51 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningRAHDavidson114 min

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.