Alert archive / Arkansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1988

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Tulsa, OK

November 25, 1988Polk County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this flash flood warning at Nov 25, 1988, 9:45 PM CST for Polk County, Arkansas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 25, 1988, 9:45 PM CST (03:45 UTC)
Expired: Nov 26, 1988, 12:45 AM CST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Polk County, AR

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

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), launched 00:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 240 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: 959 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 981 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 348 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 429 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 10.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSM 260345
FFWFSM
ARC113-260645-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT SMITH AR
945 PM CST FRI NOV 25 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN WEST ARKANSAS
          ...POLK
 
RAINFALL IN EXCESS OF TWO INCHES HAS FALLEN OVER MUCH OF POLK
COUNTY ARKANSAS DURING THE PAST FEW HOURS AND HEAVY RAIN CONTINUES.
MOTORIST SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
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

Local storm report, Nov 25, 6:45 PM CST, 3 hours before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
644 PM CST FRI NOV 25 1988

 TIME/CDT COUNTY      EVENT  (CD=CIVIL DEFENSE  OHP=OK HIGHWAY PAT'L)
 4 45 PM  OSAGE       DIME SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUST TO 50 MPH.
                      REPORTED BY SKIATOOK PD.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 25, 6:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Sebastian	64 min
Nov 25, 6:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Washington	62 min
Nov 25, 7:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Logan, Scott	64 min
Nov 25, 7:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Franklin	64 min
Nov 25, 7:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Sebastian	51 min
Nov 25, 7:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Polk	41 min
Nov 25, 8:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Logan	31 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arkansas, 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.