Alert archive / Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 67, NWS Blacksburg, VA

August 10, 2003Bedford County, Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 10, 2003, 9:48 PM EDT for Bedford County, 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: Aug 10, 2003, 9:48 PM EDT (01:48 UTC)
Expired: Aug 11, 2003, 12:15 AM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Bedford County, VA

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:49 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 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 18 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: 810 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 775 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KRNK 110150
FFWRNK
VAC019-515-110415-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
948 PM EDT SUN AUG 10 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS EXTENDED THE

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  BEDFORD CITY IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA
  BEDFORD COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL VIRGINIA

* UNTIL 1215 AM EDT

* AT 945 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS
  WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF 
  THE COUNTY. THE WARNING HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO COVER THE ENTIRE COUNTY.
  RADAR ESTIMATES THAT ONE HOUR RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO THREE INCHES
  ARE OCCURRING WITH THESE STORMS...AND THAT SINCE 800 PM ONE AND A HALF
  TO TWO AND A HALF INCHES HAD FALLEN. AN ADDITIONAL ONE TO TWO INCHES
  OF RAIN THROUGH MIDNIGHT WILL CAUSE SERIOUS FLASH FLOODING ALONG MANY
  STREAMS AND CREEKS IN THE COUNTY...ESPECIALLY THE EASTERN HALF...
  INCLUDING URBAN FLOODING IN THE CITY OF BEDFORD.

* SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED BY HEAVY RAIN THROUGH 1215 AM EDT INCLUDE
  MONETA...
  BEDFORD...
  COLEMAN FALLS...

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY
ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS AND OTHER
LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

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 3749 7930 3741 7926 3710 7948 3716 7965
          3727 7968 3754 7945

$$

05

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KRNK 110431
FFSRNK
VAC019-515-110445-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
1230 AM EDT MON AUG 11 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR BEDFORD CITY AND
BEDFORD COUNTY HAS EXPIRED AS OF 1230 AM EDT...

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN
THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...ENDING THE
FLASH FLOOD THREAT. EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS WERE RECEDING...
SOME ROADWAYS STILL MAY BE COVERED WITH WATER. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED
TO AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER WEATHER 
UPDATES.


$$

WP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 10, 8:04 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Bedford	3 hr
Aug 10, 8:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Amherst	3 hr

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.