Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 21, 1989Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 21, 1989, 10:14 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 21, 1989, 10:14 PM MDT (04:14 UTC)
Expired
Aug 22, 1989, 2:45 AM MDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1989-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 727 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1989-08-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -25 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
727 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-12 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 KMAF 220442
FFWMAF
NMC025-220845-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1141 PM CDT (1041 PM MDT) MON AUG 21 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 AM CDT (245 AM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO
          ...LEA
 
AT 1030 PM MDT...STREET FLOODING CONTINUES TO BE REPORTED IN HOBBS NEW
MEXICO...AND NWS RADAR AT MIDLAND TEXAS INDICATES THAT A LARGE
AREA OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS LEA
COUNTY DURING THE NIGHT.
 
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

Special weather statement, Aug 21, 10:05 PM MDT, 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1100 PM CDT AUG 21 1989

...HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS IN THE HOBBS NEW MEXICO AREA...

DURING THE LAST TWO HOURS THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN DEVELOPED IN
THE HOBBS AREA. HOBBS POLICE REPORTED SOME STREET FLOODING IN THE AREA
OF U.S. HIGHWAYS 62 AND 180. RADAR INDICATES A LESSENING OF INTENCITIES
DURING THE LAST FEW MINUTES.

PERSONS IN THE HOBBS AREA OR DRIVING TOWARD HOBBS SHOULD STAY ALERT TO
WEATHER CONDITIONS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 21, 11:16 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 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.