Alert archive / West Virginia / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 91, NWS Blacksburg, VA

November 19, 2003Summers County, West Virginia

NWS Blacksburg, VA issued this flash flood warning at Nov 19, 2003, 7:51 AM EST for Summers County, West 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: Nov 19, 2003, 7:51 AM EST (12:51 UTC)
Expired: Nov 19, 2003, 10:45 AM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Blacksburg, VA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Summers County, WV

The radar

The Roanoke radar (KFCX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:54 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, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 132 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 369 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 578 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 191251
FFWRNK
WVC089-191545-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
751 AM EST WED NOV 19 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SUMMERS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF HINTON

* UNTIL 1045 AM EST

* AT 748 AM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
  BAND OF HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH SUMMERS COUNTY.  AN AUTOMATED    
  RAIN GAGE REPORTED OVER TWO INCHES HAS ALREADY FALLEN OVER THE     
  LAST 12 HOURS...AND ADDITIONAL RAINFALL OF TWO INCHES IS POSSIBLE  
  IN THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO.  THE LITTLE BLUESTONE RIVER...MADAM CREEK 
  IN HINTON...AND LAUREL BRANCH ARE ALL LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE FLASH   
  FLOODING...AS WELL AS OTHER LOW LYING AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS IN THE 
  COUNTY.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO      
  TALCOTT...JUMPING BRANCH...ELTON...ELLISON AND BUCK.

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.

PLEASE SEND YOUR REPORTS OF FLOODING...INCLUDING CREEKS AND STREAMS
OUT OF THEIR BANKS...FLOODED ROADS OR MUDSLIDES TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE TOLL FREE AT...1...8 6 6...2 1 5...4 3 2 4.2 1 5...4
3 2 4.

LAT...LON 3761 8104 3748 8088 3772 8068 3786 8079

$$

SK

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KRNK 191408
FFSRNK
WVC055-089-191600-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BLACKSBURG VA
908 AM EST WED NOV 19 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES UNTIL
1045 AM EST...

  MERCER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA
  SUMMERS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WEST VIRGINIA

AT 845 AM EST...LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS REPORTED THAT THE 
BLUESTONE RIVER WAS NEARLY OUT OF ITS BANKS IN BRAMWELL...COMING UP 
TO THE BOTTOM OF BRIDGES.  LOWLAND AREAS WERE BEGINNING TO FLOOD AS 
WELL.  LOCATIONS ALL ALONG THE BLUE STONE RIVER ARE EXPECTED TO 
FLOOD QUICKLY...FROM BRAMWELL TO SPANISHBURG TO PIPESTEM TO 
ELLISON...AS WELL AS OTHER NEARBY LOCATIONS ON SMALL CREEKS AND 
STREAMS.  

WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT 900 AM IS INDICATING THAT UP TO AN 
ADDITIONAL INCH OF RAIN IS STILL POSSIBLE...SO SIGNIFICANT FLOODING 
IS LIKELY THROUGH LATE MORNING.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS WILL RAPIDLY 
FLOOD...POSSIBLY WASHING OUT ROADS AND FLOODING NEARBY LOW AREAS.

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.

$$

SK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 19, 5:42 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Mercer	5 hr
Nov 19, 8:35 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	RNK	Greenbrier, Monroe	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in West 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.