Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS El Paso, TX

August 9, 1987Brewster County, Texas

NWS El Paso, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 9, 1987, 6:56 PM CDT for Brewster County, Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 9, 1987, 6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
Expired
Aug 10, 1987, 12:00 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS El Paso, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Brewster County, TX

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

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 238 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-08-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1127 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-08-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -14 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1127 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-108 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 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 
TTAA00 KELP 092356
FFWELP
TXC043-100400-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX
556 PM MDT SUN AUG 9 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS
          ...SOUTHERN BREWSTER
 
AT 550 PM MDT THE BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK REPORTED HEAVY RAIN WITH
SMALL HAIL FOR THE PAST HOUR AND CONTINUING AT THIS TIME.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
                          S
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVE`R TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A
SMALL ONE...ON FOOT.

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, Aug 9, 6:38 PM CDT, 18 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX
535 PM MDT SUN AUG  9 1987

...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO...

AT 505 PM MDT HEAVY RAIN WAS REPORTED 4 MILES WEST OF MAYHILL NEW
MEXICO. THREE INCHES /3.1/ OF RAIN WAS REPORTED IN THE LAST HOUR BY
A RAINFALL OBSERVER.

THIS LOCATION IS IN JAMES CANYON AND OBSERVER REPORTED WATER RUNNING
IN THIS NORMALLY DRY CANYON. THIS CANYON EMPTIES INTO THE RIO PENASCO
AT MAYHILL.

PERSONS DOWNSTREAM FROM THIS LOCATION SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
RAPIDLY RISING WATER AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

THUNDERSTORMS...SOME PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...ARE EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE OVER THE MPOUNTAINS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO AND FAR WEST
TEXAS THROUGH THIS EVENING.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1987Every flash flood warning in 1987

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.