Alert archive / Nevada / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Las Vegas, NV

November 5, 1987Clark County, Nevada

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Nov 5, 1987, 8:47 AM PST for Clark County, Nevada. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 5, 1987, 8:47 AM PST (16:47 UTC)
Expired: Nov 5, 1987, 9:45 AM PST
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Whole counties

County Clark County, NV

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

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 12:00Z, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 99 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: 225 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -109 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 128 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLAS 051647
FFWLAS
NVC003-051745-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
847 AM PST THU NOV 5 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 AM PST AND A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 AM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH NEVADA
          ...CLARK
 
A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS PASSING OVER LAS VEGAS. WINDS AT 845 AM
WERE GUSTING TO 69 MPH AT MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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

Local storm report, Nov 5, 4:48 AM PST, 3 hours 59 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
435 AM PST THU NOV 05 1987

TIME            EVENT
0200 AM PST     HEAVY RAINS...STREET FLOODING IN BOULDER CITY, NEVADA

0300            NEVADA HGWY PARTOL REPORTS MINOR FLOODING IN LAUGHLIN,
                BOULDER CITY.  HIGH WINDS BUT NO SPEED ESTIMATE GIVEN.

0300            MINOR FLOODING AROUND HENDERSON AND NORTH LAS VEGAS.

0430            NEVADA POWER REPORTS SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES EAST LAS
                VEGAS AROUND 0300 PST.
...............

HOOK ECHOES REPORTED ON LSV RADAR AT 0040 PST 260/19; 0137 PST 165/12.
HOOK ECHO REPORTED ON LAS RADAR AT 0225 PST 100/10.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 5, 2:23 AM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Clark	67 min
Nov 5, 8:47 AM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Clark	58 min
Nov 5, 11:17 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Clark	118 min
Nov 5, 11:17 AM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Clark	118 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Nevada, 1987 Every 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.