Alert archive / North Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Raleigh, NC

May 22, 2004Wilson County, North Carolina

NWS Raleigh, NC issued this flash flood warning at May 22, 2004, 8:42 PM EDT for Wilson County, North Carolina. It was in force for 93 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 22, 2004, 8:42 PM EDT (00:42 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 2004, 10:15 PM EDT
In force: 93 min
Issued by: NWS Raleigh, NC
Area: Whole counties

County Wilson County, NC

The radar

The Raleigh/Durham radar (KRAX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 499 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -196 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1234 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 65 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 
WGUS52 KRAH 230044
FFWRAH
NCC195-230215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
842 PM EDT SAT MAY 22 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WILSON COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 1015 PM EDT

* AT 842 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED     
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER THE CITY OF WILSON. 

* SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE FLOODING ESPECIALLY         
  IN THE CITY OF WILSON. 

* RADAR ESTIMATES OF BETWEEN 2 AND 2.5 INCHES OF RAIN HAS ALREADY 
  OCCURRED IN CENTRAL WILSON COUNTY. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 1.5 INCHES
  WILL LIKELY OCCUR THROUGH 930 PM. 

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING.
IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING FLOODING OR LIVE IN A FLOOD PRONE AREA MOVE
TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

$$

32

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS72 KRAH 230120
FFSRAH
NCC195-230215-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
917 PM EDT SAT MAY 22 2004

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR WILSON COUNTY
AND THE CITY OF WILSON THROUGH 1015 PM...

AT 917 PM EDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUOUSLY 
REDEVELOPING AND TRAINING OVER NORTHERN AND CENTRAL WILSON COUNTY.
THUNDERSTORMS WERE BACKBUILDING TO THE WEST... THEN SLOWLY MOVING 
EAST OVER THE SAME AREAS INCLUDING THE CITY OF WILSON. THIS IS  
PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL AND FLASH FLOODING. 

RADAR ESTIMATES SHOW AS MUCH AS 4 TO 6 INCHES OF RAINFALL IN THE
PAST 3 HOURS OVER THE CITY OF WILSON... WITH AS MUCH AS 3 INCHES
IN THE PAST HOUR. THESE RAINFALL RATES AND AMOUNTS PRODUCE COPIOUS 
AMOUNTS OF RUNOFF ESPECIALLY ENHANCED IN URBAN AREAS. 

LOCATIONS THREATENED WITH FLASH FLOODING INCLUDE... WILSON... 
LAMM... SIMMS... BLACK CREEK AND RURAL WILSON COUNTY.

REPORTS OF EXTENSIVE STREET AND ROAD FLOODING HAVE ALREADY BEEN 
RECEIVED FROM WILSON. THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. 
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DRIVE WHERE WATER IS FLOWING ACROSS ROADWAYS. 
TURN AROUND. DO NOT DROWN.  

MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING 
WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE 
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.

$$

BADGETT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Raleigh, NC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 8:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wilson	26 min
May 22, 9:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Nash	86 min
May 22, 9:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wilson	33 min
May 22, 10:09 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Wilson	3 hr
May 22, 10:54 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Nash	2 hr
May 22, 11:37 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Johnston	113 min
May 23, 12:49 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Durham	26 min
May 23, 1:51 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Durham	84 min
May 23, 2:26 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	RAH	Harnett	94 min
May 23, 3:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	25 min
May 23, 4:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Wayne	32 min
May 23, 4:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Harnett	29 min
May 23, 4:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Alamance	25 min
May 23, 5:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Cumberland	25 min
May 23, 7:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	RAH	Moore	33 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Carolina, 2004 Every flash flood warning in 2004

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.