Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1992

Flash Flood Warning 56, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

May 20, 1992Bexar County, Kendall County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 20, 1992, 3:35 PM CDT for Bexar County, Kendall County, Texas. It was in force for 115 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 20, 1992, 3:35 PM CDT (20:35 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 1992, 5:30 PM CDT
In force
115 min
Issued by
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Bexar County, TX, Kendall County, TX

The nearest sounding before it

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 218 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, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1992-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 357 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, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1992-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 5 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
357 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
33 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 KSAT 202037
FFWSAT
TXC029-259-202230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANTONIO TX
335 PM CDT WED MAY 20 1992
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN SOUTH TEXAS
 
   ...BEXAR COUNTY...KENDALL COUNTY
 
THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINS CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHWARD
ACROSS BEXAR COUNTY AND INTO KENDALL COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON. IN THE SAN
ANTONIO METROPOLITAN AREA...SEVERAL STREETS ARE CLOSED DUE TO HIGH
WATER INCLUDING...AUSTIN HIWAY AT N. NEW BRAUNFELS...MOST OF JONES
MALTZBERGER...AND WEST AVENUE AT LOOP 410. OVER HALF AN INCH OF RAIN
FELL IN JUST 20 MINUTES AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN SAN
ANTONIO...AND OTHER AREAS LIKELY RECEIVED HEAVIER AMOUNTS.
 
AVOID ALREADY FLOODED AREAS.  TRAVELERS SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS FLOODED ROADS.  IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS...LEAVE IT AND MOVE
IMMEDIATELY TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IMMINENT.
MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS BRIDGES...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY
TO CROSoS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT TO ESCAPE
RISING WATER DURING THREATENING RAINS.

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 20, 11:04 AM CDT, 4 hours 31 minutes before
TXZ035-038>040-201700-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANTONIO TX
1100 AM CDT WED MAY 20 1992

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS BEXAR COUNTY...

AT 1100 AM...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...SOME PRODUCING BRIEF
HEAVY RAIN WERE MOVING ACROSS BEXAR COUNTY AND PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS AND INTO THE COASTAL BEND AREA.  THE THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE HEAVIEST
RAINS WERE LOCATED OVER NORTHWEST AND WEST PORTIONS OF THE SAN ANTONIO
METROPOLITAN AREA AND NEAR STOCKDALE.  THE LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND STORMS
WAS FROM COMFORT TO NEAR AUSTIN...THEN EXTENDING SOUTHEAST TO THE MIDDLE
TEXAS COAST.  MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE NORTH AND NORTHWEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH.

ABUNDANT MOISTURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE WILL PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL AND
FREQUENT LIGHTNING AS THE MAIN THREATS FROM THESE THUNDERSTORMS.  THE RAINS
ARE MOVING ACROSS ALREADY RAIN-SOAKED AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...RAISING
THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AREAS...STREETS...AND
ESPECIALLY LOW-WATER CROSSINGS.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED ON DEVELOPING WEATHER
CONDITIONS...SO STAY TUNED TO YOUR NOAA WEATHER RADIO.
Special weather statement, May 20, 2:42 PM CDT, 53 minutes before
TXZ035-038>040-202200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANTONIO TX
235 PM CDT WED MAY 20 1992

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS..

TWO SEPARATE AREAS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED OVER SOUTH TEXAS
THIS AFTERNOON.  THE FIRST WAS OVER THE EDWARD PLATEAU FROM
MAVERICK COUNTY NORTHWARD THOUGH VAL VERDE AND EDWARDS COUNTIES.
AT DEL RIO THE RAINFALL WAS ONLY .18 OF AN INCH BUT HIGHER TOTALS OF
3 INCHES OVER COMSTOCK AND OVER 2 INCH IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE
COUNTY PROMOTED THE ISSUANCE OF A FLASH FLOOD WARNING.

THE SECOND AREA COVERED MUCH OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.  SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM THE COASTAL BEND INLAND THROUGH SAN
ANTONIO AND GONZALES NORTHWARD TO FREDERICKSBURG AND AUSTIN AND BEYOND.
THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS AT 220 PM WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTH BEXAR COUNTY
AND WILSON COUNTY.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE RELEASING RAINS A RATES OF 3
TO 4 INCHES AN HOUR OVER THE ALREADY FLOODED SAN ANTONIO AND GUADALUPE
RIVERS.

THE MOIST TROPICAL AIR MASS OVER TEXAS ALONG WITH DAYTIME HEATING HAS
TRIGGERED THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.  CLOUD TO GROUND
LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS...AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH
THE AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS.   A RAPID DECREASE IN SHOWER
AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR AFTER SUNSET AS THE AIR BEGINS TO COOL.

STAY TUNE TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO STATIONS THROUGH SOUTH TE'XAS FOR
UP TO THE MINUTE WEATHER INFORMATION.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 8:30 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXVal Verde6 hr
May 20, 2:00 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXVal Verde3 hr
May 20, 5:27 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1992Every flash flood warning in 1992

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.