Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1990

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 31, 1990Houston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 31, 1990, 6:00 PM CDT for Houston County, Texas. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 1990, 6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1990, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Houston County, TX

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

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 2910 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 618 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 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 KHOU 312301
FFWHOU
TXC225-010100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
600 PM CDT THU MAY 31 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...HOUSTON COUNTY
 
RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUING TO REDEVELOP OVER HOUSTON
COUNTY. RADAR AND SATELLITE ESTIMATES INDICATE BETWEEN 3 AND 5 INCHES
OF RAIN HAVE OCCURRED OVER THE NORTH AND EASTERN PARTS OF THE COUNTY.
 
THE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT REPORTES THAT WATER IS OVER HIGHWAY 21 IN THE
WECHES AREA...THIS IS BETWEEN CROCKETT AND ALTO.
 
WIH MORE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE SAME AREA...FLOODING WILL
CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BTE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE 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, May 31, 1:27 PM CDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before

TXZ032-312000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
127 PM CDT THU MAY 31 1990

...A FLOOD AND FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR NORTHERN PORTIONS
OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

...RADAR SHOWS STRONG THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING NEAR LAKE LIVINGSTON
   AND NORTHWARD....

OVER THE PAST HOUR OR SO...RADAR HAS SHOWN THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING
IN THE AREA BETWEEN COLLEGE STATION...LAKE LIVINGSTON...CROCKETT...
AND LUFKIN.  STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS AT 125 PM WERE OVER LAKE LIVINGSTON
AND NORTHWARD THROUGH NORTHERN POLK COUNTY...TRINITY...AND HOUSTON
COUNTIES.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE DRIFTING SLOWLY EAST NORTHEAST.

THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING IS FAIRLY HIGH FOR THE ABOVE THREE COUNTIES
WHERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALREADY IN PROGRESS.  WITH TRINITY RIVER ALREADY
AT BANKFULL OR ABOVE IN SOME AREAS...CONTINUED HEAVY RAINS IN THESE
COUNTIES COULD CAUSE ADDITIONAL FLOODING PROBLEMS OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

ELSEHWERE...OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS THERE HAS BEEN
NO SIGNIFICANT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT SO FAR TODAY.  HOWEVER...THE
ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE AND WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE AVAILIABLE AT
LOW LEVELS...THUNDERSTORMS COULD ALSO DEVELOPE FURTHER SOUTH OF THE
FLOOD WATCH AREA AND COULD POSSIBLE AFFECT THE GREATER HOUSTON AREA
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 2:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston, Trinity	62 min
May 31, 4:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Trinity	3 hr
May 31, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk	65 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1990 Every flash flood warning in 1990

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.