Flash Flood — Ashe, North Carolina

2023-08-28 · near Fleetwood, Ashe, North Carolina

Event narrative

As much as 6 inches of water were observed flowing over Paul Goodwin Road just off U.S. Highway 221 in the community of Baldwin. Mud and rocks were also washed out onto the road. The road was closed in both direction by NCDOT until the flooding receded and the debris was cleared from the road. Property damage was the estimated cost or removing the debris from the road.

Wider weather episode

High pressure was established over New England, which extended southward across the lower Mid-Atlantic in a wedging pattern, with east windflow observed across Virginia and northern North Carolina. Meanwhile, a cold front was also observed stretching from western Pennsylvania through eastern Tennessee, making slow eastward progress. The easterly windflow was tapping a pool of deep atmospheric moisture over the eastern halves of North Carolina and Virginia, where precipitable water values ranged between 1.7 and 1.8 inches, while afternoon surface-based CAPE values ranged between 1,500 and 2,000 J/Kg across Ashe County. With a SFC-8km mean wind of less then 10 knots, storms across northwest North Carolina were slow-moving, with motion driven by local effects. The combination of deep instability driven strong afternoon heating, high atmospheric moisture and slow storm motion resulted in a strong thunderstorm that produced 4 to locally 6 inches of rainfall in southern Ashe County during a 2-3 hour period, with rainfall rates of 5 inches per hour at times.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.3263, -81.5137)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1129240. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.