Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 15, 1987Eastland County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 15, 1987, 7:57 AM CDT for Eastland County, Texas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 1987, 7:57 AM CDT (12:57 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 1987, 11:00 AM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Eastland 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

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), launched 12:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 70 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 768 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -35 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
768 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
641 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
20 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 KFTW 151257
FFWFTW
TXC133-151600-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
757 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS EXTENDED THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING
UNTIL 1100 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
          ...EASTLAND
 
EASTLAND COUNTY SHERIFFS REPORTS THAT FLOODING CONTINUES IN EASTLAND
COUNTY. AT 757 AM...RADAR INDICATED LIGHT RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL IN
EASTLAND COUNTY. ALSO...HEAVIER SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS COULD
REDEVELOPE LATER THIS MORNING.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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.

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, May 15, 2:28 AM CDT, 5 hours 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WACO TX
225 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 1987

AT 225 AM CDT THE ONLY PRECIPITATION OCCURRING IN CENTRAL TEXAS WAS
A RAINSHOWER OVER NORTHERN HILL COUNTY. THE SHOWEFR SHOWED LITTLE
MOVEMENT.
DRN
Special weather statement, May 15, 4:32 AM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FT WORTH TX
430 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 1987

AT 430 AM RADAR...INDICATED AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
SOUTH AND WEST OF A LINE FROM BRECKENRIDGE TO FORT WORTH AND ON TO
HAMILTON. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN SOUTHERN
TARRANT COUNTY...NEAR GRANBURY...NORTHEAST OF BRECKENRIDGE AND
SOUTHWEST OF BRECKENRIDGE.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE SHOWING LITTLE MOVEMENT ON RADAR. SOME
LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN NEARLY
STATIONARY OVER THE AREA.

MOTORIST SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS OR
CROSS STREAMS OF WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH. ALSO...EXPECT DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING...STRONG WIND AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL WITH THE STRONGER
THUNDERSTORMS.

STAY TUNED FOR LATER STATEMENTS.
Special weather statement, May 15, 5:06 AM CDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before
^FTWFFSFTW

URBAN FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  FORT WORTH, TX
ISSUED 502 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 1987

...HIGH WATER ON ROADS IN PORTIONS OF FORT WORTH...

AT 455 AM THE FORT WORTH POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORTED THAT WATER WAS
CAUSING A HAZARD TO AUTOMOBILES AT THE INTERSECTION OF BERRY AND
HEMPHILL IN SOUTH FORT WORTH. WATER WAS APPARENTLY HIGH ENOUGH TO
STALL AUTOMOBILES. WATER WAS ALSO RISING ON I-35 FROM THE MIXMASTER
SOUTHWARD TO SEMINARY SOUTH...ALTHOUGH THE ROAD WAS PASSABLE.

WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A VERY STRONG AND SLOW MOVING
THUNDERSTORM AT 500 AM FROM THE DOWNTOWN AREA OF FORT WORTH EXTENDING
INTO SOUTH AND WEST SECTIONS OF TOWN. URBAN FLOODING WILL CONTINUE
FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 30 MINUTES TO ONE HOUR OR UNTIL THE NEARLY
STATIONARY STORM RAINS ITSELF OUT.

FURTHER STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED AS NECESSARY.
Special weather statement, May 15, 7:47 AM CDT, 10 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WACO TX
730 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 1987

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL PARTS OF
NORTH TEXAS TODAY...

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR TODAY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM
HASKELL TO DALLAS AND WEST OF A LINE FROM DALLAS TO WACO. AT 730 AM
CDT...AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN EXTENDED FROM
NEAR DALLAS SOUTHWEST TO BROWNWOOD. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING
SLOWLY SOUThHEAST.

REMEMBER...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE
FOR FLASH FLOODING IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. STAY TUNED TO NOAA
WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
DRN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 1:32 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJohnson38 min
May 15, 1:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLimestone35 min
May 15, 2:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLeon60 min

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.