Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 33, NWS Blacksburg, VA

July 6, 2003Tazewell County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 6, 2003, 3:49 PM EDT for Tazewell County, Virginia. 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 outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 6, 2003, 3:49 PM EDT (19:49 UTC)
Expired: Jul 6, 2003, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Tazewell County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:50 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

Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 185 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: 602 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 723 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 96 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 
WGUS51 KRNK 061949
FFWRNK
VAC185-062245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
349 PM EDT SUN JUL 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  TAZEWELL COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 645 PM EDT

* AT 349 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED 
  THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN ACROSS TAZEWELL.  THESE 
  STORMS WERE NEARLY STATIONARY.
* SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED BY HEAVY RAIN THROUGH 645 PM EDT INCLUDE
  TAZEWELL...

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...URBAN AREAS...HIGHWAYS...STREETS AND UNDERPASSES
AS WELL AS OTHER DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

RELAY REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
BLACKSBURG BY CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

LAT...LON 3724 8174 3721 8168 3721 8153 3734 8136
          3724 8122 3716 8130 3712 8125 3701 8147
          3698 8157 3690 8170 3698 8170 3696 8177
          3705 8183 3712 8192

$$

08

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KRNK 062241
FFSRNK
VAC185-062300-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
645 PM EDT SUN JUL 6 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR TAZEWELL COUNTY
HAS EXPIRED AS OF 645 PM EDT...

THE PERSISTANT HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. SCATTERED 
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED INTO THE MID EVENING...BUT 
THE HEAVIEST RAIN HAS MOVED OFF TO THE EAST.

RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL CAUSED FLOODING IN SOUTHERN 
SECTIONS OF THE TOWN OF TAZEWELL WHERE A NUMBER OF ROADS WERE 
EARLIER CLOSED AND IMPASSABLE.  IN ADDITION...ROADS WERE ALSO CLOSED 
AND IMPASSABLE ACROSS PARTS OF WESTERN TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED. MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND.

RELAY YOUR REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY
CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.

$$

SN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 6, 1:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Patrick	30 min
Jul 6, 2:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Franklin	43 min
Jul 6, 4:14 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Bland, Wythe	3 hr
Jul 6, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Amherst	51 min
Jul 6, 4:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Montgomery, City of Radford	59 min
Jul 6, 4:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Buckingham	42 min
Jul 6, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Buckingham	30 min
Jul 6, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RNK	Buckingham	31 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.