Alert archive / Nevada / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Las Vegas, NV

November 5, 1987Clark County, Nevada

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Nov 5, 1987, 11:17 AM PST for Clark County, Nevada. It was in force for 118 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 5, 1987, 11:17 AM PST (19:17 UTC)
Expired: Nov 5, 1987, 1:15 PM PST
In force: 118 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, 7.3 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 051917
FFWLAS
NVC003-052115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
1117 AM PST THU NOV 5 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 PM PST AND A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 PM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH NEVADA
          ...CLARK
THE RANGER AT SEARCHLIGHT NV 60 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LAS VEGAS REPORTED
HEAVY RAIN...LARGE HAIL WITH WATER RUNNING ACROSS THE HGHWAY.
LAS VEGAS RADAR SHOWED HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE CENTRAL
AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF CLARK COUNTY MOVING TO THE NORTHWEST AT 20 MPH.
 
 
 
 
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, 9:10 AM PST, 2 hours 7 minutes before

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

TIME            EVENT
0845 AM PST     T+RW+ WITH GUSTS TO 59 KNOTS AT MCCARRAN AIRPORT

0900 AM PST     SPOTTER IN LAS VEGAS4...REPORTS 3/4 INCH HAIL AND HEAVY
                RAIN AT JONES AND EXPRESSWAY IN LAS VEGAS NV.

Local storm report, Nov 5, 9:23 AM PST, 1 hour 54 minutes before

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

TIME            EVENT
0845 AM PST     T+RW+ WITH GUSTS TO 59 KNOTS AT MCCARRAN AIRPORT

0900 AM PST     SPOTTER IN LAS VEGAS...REPORTS 3/4 INCH HAIL AND HEAVY
                RAIN AT JONES AND EXPRESSWAY IN LAS VEGAS NV.

0915 AM PST     SPOTTER REPORTS .52 OF RAIN PAST 10 MINUTES/MOTH BALL
                SIZE HAIL APPROX 15 MILES N OF LAS
                SPOTTER REPOGRTS INCH SIZE HAIL GUSTS TO 45 KTS R+
                APROX 13 NW OF LAS

Local storm report, Nov 5, 10:06 AM PST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
1002 AM PST THU NOV 05 1987

TIME            EVENT
0845 AM PST     T+RW+ WITH GUSTS TO 59 KNOTS AT MCCARRAN AIRPORT

0900 AM PST     SPOTTER IN LAS VEGAS...REPORTS 3/4 INCH HAIL AND HEAVY
                RAIN AT JONES AND EXPRESSWAY IN LAS VEGAS NV.

0915 AM PST     SPOTTER REPORTS .52 OF RAIN PAST 10 MINUTES/MOTH BALL
                SIZE HAIL APPROX 15 MILES N OF LAS
                SPOTTER REPORTS INCH SIZE HAIL GUSTS TO 45 KTS R+
                APROX 13 NW OF LAS

1001 AM PST     METRO POLICE IN LAS VEGAS REPORTS THAT STREET FLOODING
                WAS WIDESPREAD THROUGHOUT LAS VEGAS.  WATER WAS OVER-
                FLOWING FROM THyE 21ST WASH.  2 FOOT WALL OF WATER WAS
                EXPERIENCED AT JONES AND XPWY. MANY ROADWAY HAD 2 FT
                OF WATER.  IMPERIAL PALACE ON THE STRIP REPORTED
                FLOODING.

Local storm report, Nov 5, 10:52 AM PST, 25 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
1051 AM PST THU NOV 05 1987

TIME            EVENT
1040 AM PST     SPOTTER AT RED ROCK CANYON...18 W OF LAS REPORTS PEA
                SIZE HAIL

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	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Clark	58 min
Nov 5, 8:47 AM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Clark	58 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.