Alert archive / Kansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Wichita, KS

August 19, 1989Cowley County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this flash flood warning at Aug 19, 1989, 8:32 PM CDT for Cowley County, Kansas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 19, 1989, 8:32 PM CDT (01:32 UTC)
Expired
Aug 19, 1989, 11:30 PM CDT
In force
3 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, 1.5 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 1989-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2646 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 1989-08-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 38 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
2646 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
858 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 200132
FFWICT
KSC035-200430-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
832 PM CDT SAT AUG 19 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF KANSAS
      COWLEY

AT 829 PM CDT...A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN LOCATED
IN CENTRAL COWLEY COUNTY HAS BEEN NEARLY STATIONARY FOR TWO HOURS.

THE EXCESSIVE RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY ALONG GROUSE CREEK...WILL LIKELY
CAUSE FLASH FLOODING.

 RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINS IN THE WARNING AREA WILL LIKELY FLOOD
STREAMS AND LOW LYING AREAS. BE CAREFUL DRIVING AND DON/T TRY TO
CROSS WATER RUSHING OVER ROADS.

 FLASH FLOODING WILL LIKELY RESULT FROM THE HEAVY RAIN THAT HAS
FALLEN OVER THE WARNING AREA. STAY AWAY FROM AREAS SUSCEPTIBLE
TO FLOODING LIKE SMALL STREAMS...LOW LYING AREAS AND UNDERPASSES.

STEAUDHAM

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 19, 6:28 PM CDT, 2 hours 4 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
620 PM CDT SAT AUG 19 1989

AT 618 AM...THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING BRIEF
HEAVY RAIN HAVE DEVELOPED SINCE 6:00 PM.  THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE
IN THE SOUTHERN 2 ROWS OF COUNTIES FROM WINFIELD EAST TO THE STATE
LINE OF MISSOURI.

VERY HEAVY RAIN AND LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED FROM THESE STORMS...
PLUS THE SLOW EASTWARD MOVEMENT MAY CAUSE SOME SMALL STREAM FLOODING
AS WELL AS STREET FL,OODING.  PERSONS SHOULD REMAIN VERY WATCHFUL
OF RISING WATER THE NEXT TWO HOURS.

LR

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 7:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley60 min
Aug 19, 7:39 PM CDTTornado WarningICTCrawford36 min
Aug 19, 9:59 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningICTMontgomery3 hr
Aug 19, 11:22 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningICTCowley, Sumner2 hr
Aug 20, 3:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTReno62 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.