Alert archive / Florida / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 6, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

June 20, 2003Citrus County, Levy County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this flash flood warning at Jun 20, 2003, 3:00 PM EDT for Citrus County, Levy County, Florida. 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: Jun 20, 2003, 3:00 PM EDT (19:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 20, 2003, 6:00 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Citrus County, FL, Levy County, FL

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

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 1003 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 659 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS52 KTBW 201859
FFWTBW
FLC017-075-202200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
300 PM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  LEVY COUNTY IN FLORIDA.
  CITRUS COUNTY IN FLORIDA.

* FLOODING WILL AFFECT THE FOLLOWING CITIES.
  INVERNESS.
  INGLIS.
  YANKEETOWN.
  HOMOSASSA SPRINGS.
  CRYSTAL RIVER.
  BEVERLY HILLS.

* UNTIL 600 PM EDT

AT 300 PM EDT...LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS ALSO REPORTED FLOODING HAS 
FORCED THE CLOSING OF MANY ROADS IN BOTH CITRUS AND SOUTHERN LEVY 
COUNTIES.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM RAINS EARLIER TODAY ALONG WITH ADDITIONAL 
LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN FALLING NOW WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF LOW LYING 
AREAS AND INTERSECTIONS. POOR DRAINAGE AREAS ARE MOST AT RISK. 

MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT CROSS FLOODED 
ROADWAYS OR STREAMS. IF NEARING A FLOOD AREA...TURN AROUND AND DRIVE 
TO HIGHER TERRAIN.

DONT BECOME A STATISTIC. TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN

&&

LAT...LON 2951 8301 2869 8261 2868 8225 2945 8249

$$

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 Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jun 20, 2:34 PM EDT, 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 2:34 PM EDT, 26 minutes before

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
234 PM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003

SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-SUN)...GFS APPEARS TO BE HAVING PROBLEMS...
TRYING TO DEVELOP A SURFACE LOW IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND MOVE
IT ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. PREFERRED THE ETA/MESOETA SOLUTION. ALL
AREAS WILL BE WET TONIGHT AND SATURDAY...THEN FINALLY SOME DRYING
FROM NORTH TO SOUTH BEGINNING SUNDAY. TROPICAL MOISTURE STREAMING
NORTHEAST FROM GULF OF MEXICO WILL BE SUPPRESSED SOUTH ON SUNDAY AS
A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE PUSHES DOWN INTO THE SOUTHEASTERN STATES.
EXPECT FLOODING TO CONTINUE TO BE A PROBLEM UNTIL SUNDAY.

EXTENDED (SUN NIGHT-FRI)...DRY AIR FINALLY PUSHES THROUGH STATE WITH
LOWER POPS THROUGHOUT THE FORECAST AREA. RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE
WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD IN FROM THE NORTH...PROVIDING EASTERLY FLOW
WITH AFTERNOON SEA BREEZE CIRCULATIONS NEAR THE COAST. LOOKS LIKE
ENOUGH DRY AIR TO KEEP AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS AT OR JUST BELOW CLIMO
LEVELS THROUGH THE PERIOD.

MARINE...THUNDERSTORMS EMBEDDED IN WIDESPREAD AREAS OF RAIN COULD
GENERATE LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS. OTHERWISE NO HAZARDS
EXPECTED.

FIRE WEATHER...NO HIGHLIGHTS.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS:
BKV 074/086 073/092 7757
TPA 077/086 076/088 5864
GIF 074/086 074/089 5854
SRQ 076/086 076/088 5854
FMY 076/087 074/088 4877

.TBW...FLOOD WATCH FOR THE COUNTIES OF CHARLOTTE...CITRUS...
       HERNANDO...HILLSBOROUGH...LEVY...MANATEE...PASCO...
       PINELLAS...SARASOTA...LEE...THROUGH SATURDAY.

EJ

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 20, 6:23 AM EDT, 8 hours 37 minutes before

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-201530-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL FL
623 AM EDT FRI JUN 20 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY:

...A FLOOD WATCH FOR COASTAL COUNTIES THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON...

DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO TRAVERSE THE AREA TODAY
AND TONIGHT...PROVIDING PERIODS OF RAIN WHICH MAY BE HEAVY AT
TIMES. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALREADY MOVING ACROSS MANY OF
THE COASTAL COUNTIES AND ARE EXPECTED INCREASE AND COVER ALL OF
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BY LATE MORNING.

THE GREATEST THREAT TODAY WILL BE FLOODING...ESPECIALLY IN FLOOD
PRONE AREAS...WITH RAINFALL THAT COULD GENERALLY BE IN THE 2
TO 4 INCH RANGE. BUT LOCALLY...AMOUNTS COULD POSSIBLY BE AS HIGH
AS 6 TO 10 INCHES.

IN ADDITION...THE HEAVIER THUNDERSTORMS ALSO POSE A THREAT
WITH STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND DANGEROUS LIFE THREATENING LIGHTNING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY:

THE MOIST TROPICAL AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM OVER THE AREA
WITH THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN SATURDAY AND SOME FLOODING
IS STILL POSSIBLE. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME SCATTERED SUNDAY.

SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY WILL SEE A RETURN TO ISOLATED TO SCATTERED
MAINLY AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

09

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 20, 7:45 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	TBW	Citrus	4 hr
Jun 20, 11:52 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	TBW	Citrus	3 hr
Jun 20, 12:15 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	TBW	Levy	3 hr
Jun 20, 4:59 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Pinellas	31 min
Jun 20, 5:17 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	TBW		43 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Florida, 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.