Alert archive / Michigan / Flash Flood Warnings in 1988

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Gaylord, MI

August 16, 1988Kalkaska County, Michigan

NWS Gaylord, MI issued this flash flood warning at Aug 16, 1988, 9:01 AM EDT for Kalkaska County, Michigan. It was in force for 59 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 16, 1988, 9:01 AM EDT (13:01 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1988, 10:00 AM EDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Gaylord, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Kalkaska County, MI

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

Sault Ste Marie, MI (KSSM), launched 12:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 208 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: 125 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -246 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 840 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 273 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMKG 161301
FFWMKG
MIC089-055-079-161400-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MUSKEGON MI
901 AM EDT TUE AUG 16 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF LOWER MICHIGAN
      CENTRAL LEELANAU...NORTHERN GRAND TRAVERSE...NORTHERN 
      KALKASKA

AT 858AM EDT RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING OVER
CENTRAL LEELANAU..NORTHERN GRAND TRAVERSE AND NORTHERN KALKASKA
COUNTIES. URBAN FLOODING IS LIKELY AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS MOVE
ACROSS THE AREA.

PERSONS IN LOW LYING AREAS SHOULD SEEK HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.
ACT QUICKLY TO SAVE YOURSELF AND THOSE WHO DEPEND ON YOU. YOU
MAY ONLY HAVE A SHORT TIME TO TAKE REFUGE.

MOTORISTS SHOULD AVOID KNOWN PROBLEM AREAS IN THE WARNING AREA AND
SEEK ALTERNATE ROUTES AS NECESSARY. DRIVERS SHOULD PLAN AHEAtD AND
ALLOW EXTRA TIME FOR TRAVELING DUE TO HEAVY RAINFALL.

 THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY WILL PRODUCE URBAN FLOODING
 FOR THE NEXT HOUR AS THEY CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST.

 HYNES

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 16, 7:17 AM EDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUGHTON LAKE MI
715 AM EDT TUE AUG 16 1988

AT 715 AM EDT...AN AREA OF VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING
TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST OVER NORTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. THE LEADING
EDGE OF THESE STORMS WAS APPROACHING THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF OTSEGO
COUNTY...40 MILES NORTH OF HOUGHTON LAKE AND ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF
GAYLORD.

VERY HEAVY RAINS...STRONG GUSTING WIND...SMALL HAIL AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS AS THEY MOVE SOUTHEAST
OVER OTSEGO AND CRAWFORD COUNTIES.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES...BE PREPARED TO SEEK SAFE
SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Gaylord, MI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 12:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Luce	65 min
Aug 16, 8:10 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Grand Traverse, Leelanau	65 min
Aug 16, 8:31 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Kalkaska	59 min
Aug 16, 9:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	APX	Grand Traverse, Leelanau	59 min
Aug 16, 9:09 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Wexford	66 min
Aug 16, 9:40 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac	80 min
Aug 16, 11:00 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Cheboygan, Emmet	60 min
Aug 16, 12:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Antrim	68 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Michigan, 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.