Alert archive / Michigan / Flash Flood Warnings in 1986

Flash Flood Warning 8, NWS Grand Rapids, MI

September 11, 1986Montcalm County, Michigan

NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued this flash flood warning at Sep 11, 1986, 3:03 AM EDT for Montcalm County, Michigan. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 11, 1986, 3:03 AM EDT (07:03 UTC)
Expired: Sep 11, 1986, 7:00 AM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Grand Rapids, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Montcalm County, MI

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KFNT), launched 00:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 155 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: 200 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 661 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 247 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 307 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGRR 110703
FFWGRR
MIC117-111100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
303 AM EDT THU SEP 11 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN...MONTCALM

AT 255 AM EDT..RADAR INDICATED HEAVY RAIN CONTINUED TO FALL IN
MUCH OF MONTCALM COUNTY. A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDED FROM WISCONSIN..ACROSS LAKE MICHIGAN THROUGH MUCH OF
SOUTH AND CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN. THE AREA OF STORMS WAS MOVING TO
THE EAST AT 40 MPH. THE CONTINUING PRECIPITATION..ALONG WITH THE
HEAVY PRECIPITATION THAT FELL WEDNESDAY..WILL ADD TO THE FLOODING
PROBLEMS IN MONTCALM COUNTY.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR HAS BEEN
REPORTED. TAKE ACTION TO SAFEGUARD LIFE AND PROPERTY.

MJK

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 10, 9:34 PM EDT, 5 hours 29 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  MUSKEGON MI
925PM EDT WED SEP 10 1986

..VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WESTERN MICHIGAN...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR MUSKEGON AND NEWAGO COUNTIES EXPIRED
AT 915PM EDT BUT A FLASH FLOOD WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100PM EDT
FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF MUSKEGON AND SOUTHERN NEWAGO COUNTIES.

AT 905PM EDT RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM 50
MILES NORTHWEST TO 40 MILES NORTHEAST OF MUSKEGON.
THESE STORMS CONTAIN VERY HEAVY RAIN AND WERE MOVING FROM WEST TO EAST
AT ABOUT 35 MILES AN HOUR. THIS VERY HEAVY RAIN ON TOP OF THE OVER 4
INCHES RECEIVED ALREADY TODAY MAY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING IN PARTS OF
MUSKEGON AND NEWAGO COUNTIES.

STAY TUNED TO YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATIONS OR NOAA WEATHER
RADIO FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS.
END WSO MKG

Local storm report, Sep 10, 9:57 PM EDT, 5 hours 6 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
945 PM EDT WED SEP 10 1986

TIME (EDT)   LOCATION       REPORT

1805   BEDFORD...10 N BTL   TORNADO TOUCHDOWN SIGHTED BY SHERIFF AND FIRE
                            DEPARTMENTS. PATH 150 YDS WIDE. TWO
                            TRANSMISSION TOWERS DESTROYED INTO TWISTED
                            WRECKAGE.  LARGE TREES UPROOTED AND POWER
                            LINE DOWN.
1845    2 WEST OF ONANDAGA  FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED BY FIRE DEPT...MINOR
        15 S OF LAN         DAMAGE TO TREES.
1900    GRAND LEDGE         SMALL HAIL..HEAVY RAIN
        (10 W LAN)
1945    3 N STOCKBRIDGE   LARGE TREES UPROOTED AND TWISTED. SOME
        30 SE LAN         STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO 3 HOMES. PICKUP CAMPER
                          DESTROYED. DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG KANE ROAD
                          BETWEEN M36 AND MILNER RD IN EXTREME EASTERN
                          INGHAM CO..ADDITIONAL DAMAGE IN LIVINGSTON CO.
FORTUNE

Special weather statement, Sep 10, 10:06 PM EDT, 4 hours 57 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LANSING MI
1005 PM EDT THU SEP 10 1986

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO GRATIOT COUNTY...

AT 10 PM EDT RADAR SHOWED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS NEAR ALMA MICHIGAN
...40 MILES NORTH OF LANSING.  VERY HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND
SMALL HAIL IS LIKELY WITH THIS STORM AS IT MOVES EAST AT 35 MPH.

TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR CLINTON AND GRATIOT COUNTIES UNTIL
1 AM EDT.
FORTUNE

Local storm report, Sep 11, 12:40 AM EDT, 2 hours 23 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MUSKEGON MI
12430 AM EDT THU SEP 11 1986

CENTRAL DISPATCH REPORTED NUMEROUS ROADS FLOODED IN THE WHITEHALL
AREA...ABOUT 15 MILES NORTH OF MUSKEGON.  SANDBAGGING WAS DONE AT
WHITEHALL MANOR..A NURSING HOME..WITH POSSIBLE EVACUATION CONSIDERED.
WHITEHALL POLICE ESTIMATED UP TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN DURING THE
STORMS TONIGHT..NOT COUNTING THE APPROXIMATE 4 INCHES THAT HAD FALLEN
EARLIER.

CENTRAL DISPATCH ALSO REPORTED LARGE TREES DOWN AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS
ON THE WEST SIDE OF MUSKEGON COUNTY.

MAPLE ISLAND ROAD HAS BEEN WASHED OUT BETWEEN RYERSON ROAD AND
MICHILINDA ROAD IN MUSKEGON COUNTY.

REPORTS OF WATER 7 INCHES DEEP ACROSS ROADS WAS ALSO REPORTED IN SOME
NORTH SECTIONS OF THE COUNTY.
OCEANA COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED NUMEROUS ROADS WASHED OUT IN THE SOUTH
PART OF THE COUNTY.

DAMAGE REPORTS ARE SPOTTY..APPARENTLY DUE TO LINE DAMAGE AND THE FACT
THAT MOST POLICE AGENCIES ARE TOO BUSY` TO TALK.

ADDITIONAL STORM REPORTS WILL BE SENT AS SOON AS WE CAN GET FURTHER
RELIABLE DATA.

GALLOWAY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 10, 9:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Kent	41 min
Sep 10, 10:26 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GRR	Kent	3 hr
Sep 10, 11:07 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GRR	Gratiot	3 hr
Sep 10, 11:47 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GRR	Montcalm	4 hr
Sep 11, 1:11 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GRR	Kent	4 hr
Sep 11, 5:05 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	GRR	Kent, Montcalm	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Michigan, 1986 Every flash flood warning in 1986

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.