Alert archive / Kentucky / Flash Flood Warnings in 1988

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Louisville, KY

November 19, 1988Menifee County, Kentucky

NWS Louisville, KY issued this flash flood warning at Nov 19, 1988, 11:21 AM EST for Menifee County, Kentucky. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Nov 19, 1988, 11:21 AM EST (16:21 UTC)
Expired
Nov 19, 1988, 2:30 PM EST
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Louisville, KY
Area
Whole counties

County Menifee County, KY

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

Huntington/Tri S, WV (KHTS), launched 12:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 107 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, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 12:00Z on 1988-11-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Huntington/Tri S, WV at 12:00Z on 1988-11-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 159 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
295 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 KLEX 191622
FFWLEX
KYC165-191930-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LEXINGTON KY
1121 AM EST SAT NOV 19 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEXINGTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY
          ...MENIFEE
 
AT 1040 AM EST THE MENIFEE ENERGENCY SERVICES COORDINATOR REPORTED
THAT BEAVER CREEK WAS OVER ITS BANKS. LOW LYING AREAS OF THE COUNTY
ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCING FLOODING AND WITH MORE RAIN ON THE WAY THE
CITY OF FRENCHBURG IS THREATNED.
 
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, Nov 19, 6:10 AM EST, 5 hours 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
610 AM EST SAT NOV 19 1988

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR EXTREME WEST KENTUCKY TODAY AND TONIGHT...

HEAVY RAIN FELL OVER FAR WEST KENTUCKY IN THE PREDAWN HOURS SATURDAY
MORNING WITH REPORTS OF URBAN FLOODING AND SOME ROADWAYS UNDER WATER
NEAR MURRAY KENTUCKY...WHICH IS ABOUT 30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF PADUCAH.
SOME FLOODING WAS ALSO OBSERVED IN ADJACENT AREAS OF WESTERN TENNESSEE
AND SOUTHEAST MISSOURI.

ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER WEST KENTUCKY
AND MUCH OF THE REST OF THE STATE.  THIS RAIN FALLING ON ALREADY
SATURATED SOIL IN THE WEST WILL RUNOFF RAPIDLY INTO ALREADY SWOLLEN
RIVERS AND STREAMS.  RAIN AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE LIKELY TODAY
AND TONIGHT ALONG THE OHIO RIVER FROM PADUCAH TO COVINGTON.

IF YOU LIVE IN WEST OR NORTH KENTUCKY...KEEP INFORMED OF THE LATEST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST...AND BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
FLOODED 1ROADS AND UNDERPASSES.

KIRKPATRICK

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kentucky, 1988Every 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.