Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1992

Flash Flood Warning 6, NWS San Diego, CA

August 23, 1992Imperial County, California

NWS San Diego, CA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 23, 1992, 1:55 PM PDT for Imperial County, California. It was in force for 61 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 23, 1992, 1:55 PM PDT (20:55 UTC)
Expired
Aug 23, 1992, 2:56 PM PDT
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS San Diego, CA
Area
Whole counties

County Imperial County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

San Diego, CA (KNKX), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 173 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, San Diego, CA at 12:00Z on 1992-08-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, San Diego, CA at 12:00Z on 1992-08-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 36 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1861 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
65 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 KSAN 232055
FFWSAN
CAC025-232200-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
155 PM PDT SUN AUG 23 1992
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN DIEGO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  300 PM PDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN IMPERIAL COUNTY
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHEAST IMPERIAL COUNTY UNTIL
3 PM PDT. IMPERIAL COUNTY HIGHWAY PATROL AND IMPERIAL COUNTY SHIERIFFS
REPORT FLASH FLOODING ON HIGHWAY 78 NEAR PALO VERDE AND THE
HIGHWAY IS CLOSED IN THIS AREA.
 
RADAR AND SATELLITE INDICATE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN IN
NORTHEAST IMPERIAL COUNTY.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY CAUSE
FLASH FLOODING FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT HOUR.
 
 
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 BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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.
 
ATKIN

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 23, 11:23 AM PDT, 2 hours 32 minutes before
CAC025-232300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
1120 AM PDT SUN AUG 23 1992

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN NORTHEAST IMPERIAL COUNTY...

AT 11 AM RADAR INDICATES THAT THUNDERSTORMS...SOME HEAVY...ARE DEVELOPING
IN NORTHCENTRAL AND NORTHEAST IMPERIAL COUNTY...MAINLY FROM THE CHOCOLATE
MOUNTAINS TO PALO VERDE AT THE RIVERSIDE COUNTY LINE.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE HEAVY...FLOOD CAUSING
RAINS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND LOCAL WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 40 MPH.  SMALL
HAIL IS ALSO A POSSIBILITY.  THESE STORMS SHOULD MOVE GENERALLY TO THE
NORTHEAST.

THESE STORMS ARE THE RESULT OF A COLD FRONT MOVING SLOWLY EAST THROUGH
IMPERIAL COUNTY COLLIDING WITH MOIST MOVING NORTH FROM TROPICAL STORM
LESTER LOCATED ABOUT 300 MILES SOUTH IN MEXICO.
.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EASTERN HALF OF IMPERIAL
COUNTY CAN OCCUR THROUGHOUT THIS AFTERNOON.  THIS WEATHER SITUATION HAS
POTENTIAL TO@ TURN DANGEROUS AT ANY TIME THIS AFTERNOON...AND PEOPLE IN
AND TRAVELLING THROUGH IMPERIAL COUNTY SHOULD BE PREPARED TAKE ACTION
IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

HEPBURN

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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.