Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 36, NWS Blacksburg, VA
NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 13, 2003, 5:54 PM EDT for Roanoke County, City of Roanoke, Virginia. 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 outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 13, 2003, 5:54 PM EDT (21:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 13, 2003, 8:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 2 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Blacksburg, VA
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
Counties City of Roanoke, VA, Roanoke County, VA
The radar
The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:56 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.
Did it verify
Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.
Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.
The nearest sounding before it
Roanoke, VA (KRNK), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 41 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -150 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1049 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS51 KRNK 132156 FFWRNK VAC161-770-140000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 554 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... ROANOKE CITY IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA EAST CENTRAL ROANOKE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA * UNTIL 800 PM EDT * AT 554 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A PERSISTENT CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CITY OF ROANOKE. RADAR INDICATED THAT OVER 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN IN THE WARNED AREA SINCE 5 PM. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN COULD OCCUR BEFORE THE STORMS WEAKEN. THIS WILL BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING. * SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED BY HEAVY RAIN THROUGH 800 PM EDT INCLUDE ROANOKE... 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 3732 7990 3720 7990 3720 8004 3730 8001 $$ 10
1 follow-up statement
000 WGUS71 KRNK 132306 FFSRNK VAC161-770-140000- FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 703 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003 ...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES AND INDEPENDENT CITIES UNTIL 800 PM EDT... ROANOKE CITY IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA EAST CENTRAL ROANOKE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL VIRGINIA AT 701 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAINFALL HAD MOVED SOUTHEAST OF THE WARNING AREA. HOWEVER RUNOFF FROM THE EARLIER RAINFALL WILL LIKELY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ACROSS SOUTHEAST ROANOKE COUNTY DURING THE NEXT HOUR. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. RELAY YOUR REPORTS OF FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4. $$ JH
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Blacksburg, VA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 13, 3:05 PM EDT, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 3:05 PM EDT, 2 hours 49 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG, VA 305 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003 KFCX 88D AT 1837Z SHOWED SCT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. THE MODIFIED AM SOUNDINGS SHOWED LIS FROM MINUS 5 TO MINUS 8 WITH CAPES 1500 TO 3000. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS NEXT KENTUCKY SHORTWAVE ROUNDING THE MIDLEVEL TROUGH. AS SHORT APPROACHES A RETURN FLOW SHOULD ADVECT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE NORTHWARD. SHEAR PROFILE AND COLD POOL ALOFT COULD CREATE STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS. MAIN THREAT IS WIND AND HAIL. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS. THE GFS IS MORE AMPLIFIED...AND SLIGHTLY QUICKER...WITH THE TROF LIFTING OUT OF THE EAST THAN THE NGM/ETA BY 48-60 HRS. THE UKMET IS EVEN FASTER THAN THE GFS...WHILE THE CAN SUPPORTS THE GFS. LEANING TOWARDS THE GFS FOR THE PACKAGE. FOR TONIGHT... I RAISED POPS TO LIKELY ACROSS THE SOUTH AND TAPERED AS ONE HEADS NORTH. INCREASED POPS ON MONDAY EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS. EXPECT PRECIP CHANCES TO DIMINISH AS TROUGH AXIS AND SURFACE BOUNDARY PUSH OUT OF FA. RAISED MAX TEMPS UP EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. IN THE EXTENDED PERIODS...WARMED TEMPS UP A FEW DEGREES IN GENERAL. HELD ON TO DAILY AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONVECTION. ADDED SCT TRW- FOR DAY 7/SUNDAY. ZONES WILL BE OUT BY 330 PM. HAVE A GOOD NIGHT. FCSTID = 7 PRELIM NUMBERS ROA 62 80 64 85 / 50 40 20 20 LYH 62 80 64 85 / 50 40 20 20 DAN 65 83 66 88 / 60 40 30 30 BLF 58 78 60 83 / 30 20 20 20 LWB 57 76 59 80 / 30 20 20 20 BCB 58 78 60 83 / 30 20 20 20 TNB 59 77 61 80 / 60 30 20 20 .RNK... NC...NONE. VA...NONE. WV...NONE.
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 13, 7:16 AM EDT, 10 hours 38 minutes before
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-141100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 716 AM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA... WESTERN AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA...AS WELL AS NORTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE CENTRAL APPALACHIANS THIS AFTERNOON. ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER IS POSSIBLE...WITH A FEW STORMS EXPECTED TO CONTAIN LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS. THE GREATEST THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE BETWEEN 2:00 PM AND 8:00 PM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THERE IS THE THREAT OF SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FOR MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED UNLESS THE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME ORGANIZED.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 13, 2:15 PM EDT, 3 hours 39 minutes before
NCZ001>006-018>020-VAZ007-009>020-022>024-032>035-043>047-058-059- WVZ042>045-132100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA 215 PM EDT SUN JUL 13 2003 SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING ACROSS THE CENTRAL APPALACHIANS THIS AFTERNOON. COVERAGE OF THESE STORMS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD DURING THE EVENING HOURS...WITH ISOLATED SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS MAY OCCUR WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED IF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY BECOMES ORGANIZED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FUTURE FORECAST UPDATES OR FOR POTENTIAL WARNINGS. 11
The office that day
Everything else NWS Blacksburg, VA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 13, 6:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Roanoke, City of Roanoke | 48 min |
| Jul 13, 6:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Franklin | 42 min |
| Jul 13, 6:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Pulaski | 49 min |
| Jul 13, 7:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Giles | 46 min |
| Jul 13, 7:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Montgomery, City of Radford | 41 min |
| Jul 13, 7:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Franklin, Pittsylvania | 63 min |
| Jul 13, 7:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | RNK | Bedford | 35 min |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Virginia, 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.