Alert archive / Nevada / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Las Vegas, NV

August 9, 1989Esmeralda County, Nye County, Nevada

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Aug 9, 1989, 5:01 PM PDT for Esmeralda County, Nye County, Nevada. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 9, 1989, 5:01 PM PDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired: Aug 9, 1989, 8:00 PM PDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Whole counties

Counties Esmeralda County, NV, Nye County, NV

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

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 171 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: 805 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2314 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLAS 100002
FFWLAS
NVC009-023-100300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
501 PM PDT WED AUG 9 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A URBAN AND SMALL
STREAM FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM PDT FOR PEOPLE IN
THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTH CENTRAL PART OF NEVADA
      NORTHERN NYE AND NORTHERN ESMERALDA

AT 445 PM HEAVY RAINS FROM THUNDERSTROMS HAVE BEEN REPORTED BY A
WEATHER SPOTTER AT MANHATTEN(33 MILES NORTH OF TONOPAH).  STREET
FLOODING OCCURING AND CLOUD BURST CONTINUING.

TONOPAH SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTS HIGHWAY BETWEEN TONOPAH AND COALDALE
JUNCTION CLOSED DUE TO THREE WASHOUTS
.
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS 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 TO HIGHER GROUND.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY.
VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED IMMEDIATELY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOOD WATERS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...
ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

SMITH/2358Z

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 9, 11:25 AM PDT, 5 hours 36 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
1125 AM PDT WED AUG 09 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA AGAIN THIS
                  AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA CONTINUES TO GIVE SOUTHERN
NEVADA A MOIST UNSTABLE SOUTHERLY FLOW LOFT.  THE HEATING TODAY WILL
WILL CAUSE THE AIR TO BECOME MORE UNSTABLE AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
ONCE AGAIN BE SET OFF.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA WHICH INCLUDES THE
LAKE MEAD AND LAKE MOHAVE RECREATION AREAS.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE DEADLY LIGHTNING..BRIEF HEAVY RAIN..
AND GUSTY WINDS. THE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN MAY CAUSE MINOR FLOODING..AVOID
CROSSING FLOODED ROADWAYS. THE GUSTY WINDS MAY CAUSE AREAS OF BLOWING
SAND AND DUST REDUCING ROADWAY VISIBILITIES. THE BLOWING SAND AND DUST
USUALLY LAST FOR SHORT DURATION.
.
A LAKE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR LAKE MEAD AND LAKE MOHAVE. BOATERS
SHOULD BE WITHIN 4A SHORT DISTANCE OF THE SHORE OR DOCK WHEN THUNDERSTORMS
ARE IN THE AREA.

CONTINUE TO LISTEN TO THIS STATION OR COMMERICAL RADIO AND TV FOR
UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
JWS/1824Z

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Nevada, 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.