Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 25, 1989Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 25, 1989, 6:44 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 25, 1989, 6:44 PM MDT (00:44 UTC)
Expired
Aug 25, 1989, 8:45 PM MDT
In force
2 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, 0.7 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 1989-08-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1130 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1989-08-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -18 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
1130 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2115 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 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 260047
FFWMAF
NMC025-260245-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
744 PM CDT (644 PM MDT) FRI AUG 25 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM CDT (845 PM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO
          ...NORTHERN LEA
 
AT 740 PM CDT...640 PM MDT A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN
INDICATED IS MOVING INTO NORTHERN LEA COUNTY NEW MEXICO. RAINFALL
REPORTS FROM CROSSROADS REPORTED 1.90 INCHES OF RAIN FROM THE LAST
THUNDERSTORM THAT MOVED ACROSS THAT AREA A COUPLE OF HOURS AGO. ANY
ADDITIONAL RAINFALL FROM THIS CURRENT THUNDERSTORM WILL CAUSE ALREADY
FULL STREAMS...BAR DITCHES...AND LOW AREAS TO FURTHER FLOOD.
 
 
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 WATEOR 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 25, 3:37 PM MDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
433 PM CDT FRI AUG 25 1989

...HEAVY RAINFALL IN NORTHERN LEA COUNTY...

AT 425 PM CDT...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WERE LOCATED 15 MILES
NORTH OF TATUM NEW MEXICO...10 MILES EAST OF CARLSBAD CAVERNS NEW
MEXICO...AND 30 MILES WEST OF FORT STOCKTON.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE PART OF AN AREA OF WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
WHICH EXTENDED FROM JEFF DAVIS COUNTY NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHEASTERN NEW
MEXICO.

AN AREA OF WIDELY SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS EXTENDED FROM 10 MILES SOUTH OF
BIG SPRING TO 10 MILES SOUTH OF SWEETWATER.

LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS INDICATED.

DURING THE PAST HOUR...ONE INCH OF RAIN FELL AT CROSSROADS NEW MEXICO...IN
NORTHERN LEA COUNTY...WITH RAIN STILL FALLING. ALTHOUGH NO FLOODING HAS
BEEN REPORTED...THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS COULD RESULT IN
LOCALIZED FLOODING OF INTERSECTIONS AND LOW LYING AREAS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR~ YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION
FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

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.