Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Amarillo, TX

August 6, 1989Randall County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 6, 1989, 9:50 PM CDT for Randall County, Texas. It was in force for 115 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 6, 1989, 9:50 PM CDT (02:50 UTC)
Expired: Aug 6, 1989, 11:45 PM CDT
In force: 115 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Randall County, TX

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

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 34 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: 1088 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAMA 070252
FFWAMA
TXC381-070445-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
950 PM CDT SUN AUG 6 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
          ...RANDALL
 
AT 945 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR WAS INDICATING A LINE
OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH RANDALL COUNTY.
IF YOU ARE IN PALO DURO CANYON BE ESPECIALLY AWARE OF THE FLASH
FLOODING THREAT.
 
THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT.  IT'S
IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHEBRE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO STREAMS...RIVERS...OR
CREEKS WHICH CAN BECOME KILLERS IN HEAVY RAINS.  CAMPERS SHOULD
AVOID CAMPING ALONG STREAMS OR CREEKS DURING THREATENING RAINS.
TWG

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 6, 4:22 PM CDT, 5 hours 28 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
423 PM CDT SUN AUG 6 1989

...THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH THE CENTRAL TEXAS PANHANDLE WITH SOME
   SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS THIS AFTERNOON...

AT 420 PM CDT...A THUNDERSTORM WITH HEAVY RAIN AND SMALL HAIL WAS MOVING
SLOWLY THROUGH RANDALL COUNTY.  THE STORM WAS JUST EAST OF BUFFALO LAKE
OR ABOUT 8 MILES SOUTH OF CANYON.  THIS STORM PRODUCED PEA TO MARBLE SIZE
HAIL JUST BEFORE 4PM WHEN IT WAS BETWEEN CANYON AND AMARILLO.  STRONG
GUSTY WINDS WERE ALSO REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC.

THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE SOUTHWEST AT ABOUT 10 MILES AN HOUR.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL RADIO/TV STATIONS FOR FURTHER
UPDATES.

TWG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 6, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford	63 min
Aug 6, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley	61 min
Aug 6, 7:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	56 min
Aug 6, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson	65 min
Aug 6, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	63 min
Aug 6, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Donley, Gray	61 min
Aug 6, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham	68 min
Aug 6, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray	68 min
Aug 6, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith, Randall	59 min
Aug 6, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Donley	59 min
Aug 6, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Castro, Parmer, Swisher	59 min
Aug 6, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Briscoe	59 min
Aug 6, 10:59 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Hall	2 hr
Aug 6, 10:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hall	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1989 Every flash flood warning in 1989

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.