Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1988

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Albuquerque, NM

September 13, 1988Bernalillo County, New Mexico

NWS Albuquerque, NM issued this flash flood warning at Sep 13, 1988, 7:07 PM MDT for Bernalillo County, New Mexico. It was in force for 83 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 13, 1988, 7:07 PM MDT (01:07 UTC)
Expired: Sep 13, 1988, 8:30 PM MDT
In force: 83 min
Issued by: NWS Albuquerque, NM
Area: Whole counties

County Bernalillo County, NM

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

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 6 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: 455 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1010 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 199 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 230 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABQ 140107 COR
FFWABQ
NMC001-140230-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTION...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
707 PM MDT TUE SEP 13 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBUQUERQUE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN CENTRAL NEW MEXICO
          ...BERNALILLO...

AT 655 PM MDT THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS BERNALILLO
COUNTY AND PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS.  THIS FOLLOWING HEAVY RAINS OF AS
MUCH AS 1.00 THAT OCCURRED EARLIER THIS EVENING CAN PRODUCE FLASH FLOOD-
ING. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO PRODUCING DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..STRONG
GUSTY WIND AND SOME HAIL.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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.

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 13, 2:58 PM MDT, 4 hours 9 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  ALBUQUERQUE NM
255 PM MDT TUE SEP 13 1988

A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS OBSERVED ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF LOS LUNAS
NEW MEXICO AT 245 PM MDT.

THE FUNNEL CLOUD CAME OUT OF A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WHICH WILL
PASS OVER THE ALBUQUERQUE METRO AREA IN THE NEXT HOUR.  HAIL...
LOCAL RAINS OF AN INCH OR MORE...WINDS GUSTING ABOVE 40 MPH...
AND MORE FUNNEL CLOUDS ARE POSSIBLE FROM THIS THUNDERSTORM.

PERSONS IN THE ALBUQUERQUE METRO AREA SHOULD PREPARE FOR ADVERSE
WEATHER BETWEEN NOW AND 400 PM MDT.  ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS WILL
BE ISSUED IF NEEDED.

END

Special weather statement, Sep 13, 3:52 PM MDT, 3 hours 15 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  ALBUQUERQUE NM
345 PM MDT TUE SEP 13 1988

THE THUNDERSTORM CELL THAT PRODUCED THE FUNNEL CLOUDS THAT WERE
SIGHTED WEST OF LOS LUNAS HAS NOW MOVED EAST TOWARDS THE MANZANO
MOUNTAINS AND MOSTLY SOUTHEAST OF ALBUQUERQUE. OTHER SMALL FUNNELS
WERE ALSO SIGHTED BY THE PUBLIC NEAR BERNALILLO AROUND 300 PM MDT.
FUNNELS OF THIS TYPE COULD BUT RARELY TOUCH THE GROUND AND THUS
SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IS NOT LIKELY.

WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS THE AREA...HEAVY RAINS...
STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE FROM SOME OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS. PERSONS IN BERNALILLO COUNTY SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE
POSSIBILITY THAT SEVERE WEATHER MAY YET DEVELOP AND REMAIN ABREAST OF
THE CURRENT AND FORECAST WEATHER.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 1988 Every flash flood warning in 1988

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.