Alert archive / Kansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Wichita, KS

May 21, 1989Cowley County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this flash flood warning at May 21, 1989, 9:51 PM CDT for Cowley County, Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 21, 1989, 9:51 PM CDT (02:51 UTC)
Expired
May 22, 1989, 2:00 AM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Wichita, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Cowley County, KS

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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 222 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1989-05-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1989-05-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 226 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
918 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
226 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
246 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 KICT 220254 COR
FFWICT
KSC035-220700-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED...CORRECTION FOR PORTION
FLASH FLOOD WARNING                   OF COUNTY WARNED.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
951 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...

IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS
          ...EASTERN AND SOUTHERN COWLEY

AT 935 PM CDT...COWLEY COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE REPORTED FLASH FLOODING
ALONG GROUSE CREEK NEAR CAMBRIDGE...OR ABOUT 25 MILES NORTHEAST OF
ARKANSAS CITY.  IN FACT...WATER WAS REPORTED 15 TO 18 FEET ABOVE
A LOW WATER BRIDGE 3 MILES NORTH OF CAMBRIDGE.  CIVIL DEFENSE ALSO
REPORTED EFFORTS WERE BEGINNING TO EVACUATE PEOPLE ALONG LOW-LYING
AREAS ALONG GROUSE CREEK.

OTHER TOWNS ALONG GROUSE CREEK INCLUDE DEXTER AND SILVERDALE.
IF YOU LIVE ALONG GROUSE CREEK...GET TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

RAINS OF UP TO 3 INCHES EARLIER TODAY OCCURED IN NORTHEASTERN
COWLEY COUNTY.  OTHER CREEKS MAY ALSO BE PRONE TO FLOODING...
SO PERSONS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT...AND GET TO HIGHER GROUND
QUICKLY.


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. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING
WHEN WATER BEGINS TO RISE.

KRAUSE

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, May 21, 7:35 PM CDT, 2 hours 16 minutes before
KSZ009-009-011-012-014-017-220135-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
734 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS ARE ONCE AGAIN DEVELOPING ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTH
   CENTRAL KANSAS...

AT 730 PM CDT...A SMALL AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED RATHER
QUICKLY OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS 30 TO 35 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
WICHITA OR ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN COWLEY COUNTY. MOVEMENT IS
EXPECTED TO BE TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST.

ALTHOUGH THE STORMS WERE NOT SEVERE IN NATURE AS OF 730 PM...THEY
DID DEVELOP IN A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO CLOSELY
MONITOR THESE STORMS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.

AND...AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM HAD DEVELOPED ACROSS SOUTHWEST
KANSAS /35 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DODGE CITY OR NEAR ASHLAND.
WILSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 8:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTBourbon40 min
May 21, 10:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTSedgwick55 min
May 21, 10:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTKingman, Reno68 min
May 21, 11:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTSedgwick, Sumner59 min
May 21, 11:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler68 min
May 21, 11:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTHarvey58 min
May 21, 11:42 PM CDTTornado WarningICTReno33 min
May 21, 11:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTGreenwood59 min
May 21, 11:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTHarper61 min
May 22, 12:23 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTSedgwick, Sumner67 min
May 22, 12:48 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler, Cowley57 min
May 22, 1:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua, Elk, Greenwood63 min
May 22, 2:20 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTMontgomery, Wilson55 min
May 22, 2:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTLabette, Neosho55 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kansas, 1989Every 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.