Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1995

Flash Flood Warning 22, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 31, 1995Polk County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 31, 1995, 9:26 PM CDT for Polk County, Texas. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 31, 1995, 9:26 PM CDT (02:26 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1995, 11:30 PM CDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Polk County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:26 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1995-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2774 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1995-06-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 64 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2774 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
788 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 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 010228
FFWHOU
TXC373-010430-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
926 PM CDT WED MAY 31 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...POLK COUNTY
 
AT 922 PM...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED TO PRODUCE VERY HEAVY
RAINS OVER POLK COUNTY.
 
RADAR ESTIMATES INDICATE THAT UP TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN
OVER AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF U.S. 190...BETWEEN 5 AND 10 MILES
EAST OF LIVINGSTON.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO
RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH
FLOODING IS OBSEbRVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD
WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER
BEGINS RISING.

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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at May 31, 8:04 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 8:04 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
804 PM CDT WED MAY 31 1995

LATEST SFC ANALYSES AND ADAP DATA SHOWED MOST UNSTABLE ARMS FM AND
NORTH OF A LINE FM CLL TO IAH TO BPT.  TSTMS AT 00Z WERE BEGINNING TO
FIRE IN AN AREA BETWEEN A THERMAL RDG ALONG THE AFORE MENTIONED LINE
AND THE BEST MOISTURE AXIS INDICATED FM CLL THRU TYR.  AM A BIT
CONCERNED ABOUT THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY PRODUCED BY STORMS WNW OF CLL
INTERACTING WITH THIS AREA.  TSTMS APPEAR TO BEGIN A FEW MILES N OF
IAH AND XTD NE TO JUST SO OF LFK...WITH SOME BACK BUILDING HINTED AT.
WITH THE DAYTIME HEATING OVR WITH...MESO-SCALE LIFT MAY BE ENUF FOR
STG OR SVR TSTMS AND HVY PCPN.  HOWEVER...INFLOW WNDS ARE LGT UNDER
10 KTS.  THERMODYNAMICALLY...CRP 00Z SOUNDING SHOWING CAPES NR 3050
AND 0-3 KM HELICITY AROUND 130.  ADAP LI/S NR -12 AT 00Z ALSO.  WL
MENTION POSSIBILITY OF HVY RAIN AND WL UP THE POPS TO 50 PERCENT FOR
NRN AND NERN ZONES.
...40...

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 31, 3:46 PM CDT, 5 hours 40 minutes before
TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-010430-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
4 PM CDT WED MAY 31 1995

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF
SOUTHEAST TEXAS TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING.  THE CITIES OF
HOUSTON...BRYAN...COLLEGE STATION AND GALVESTON ARE INCLUDED IN THE
RISK AREA.

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING ACROSS A WEAK STATIONARY FRONT HAS
LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH TEXAS THIS
AFTERNOON.  AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES SOUTH INTO THE AREA...STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATER THIS EVENING OVER
SOUTHEAST TEXAS.  WITH THIS AFTERNOON'S HEATING...THE ATMOSPHERE OVER
SOUTHEAST TEXAS HAS BECOME QUITE UNSTABLE AND SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT
FOR THE STORMS TO BECOME SEVERE.

THE MAIN THREAT WITH THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS.

TOMORROW...ANOTHER SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL BE MOVING
THROUGH THE AREA.  WITH THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINING RELATIVELY UNCHANGED
- MOIST AND UNSTABLE...ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER IS POSSIBLE
THURSDAY INTO THURSDAY EVENING.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS SOURCES FOR FURTHER
UPDATES OR POSSIBLE WATCHES OR WARNINGS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 8:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXLiberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto67 min
May 31, 8:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk66 min
May 31, 9:13 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXMontgomery2 hr
May 31, 10:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXLiberty, Montgomery61 min
May 31, 11:37 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXLiberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto3 hr
Jun 1, 12:22 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHarris, Montgomery, Waller68 min
Jun 1, 12:39 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXFort Bend, Wharton66 min
Jun 1, 12:53 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXAustin, Colorado37 min
Jun 1, 1:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXLiberty, San Jacinto63 min
Jun 1, 1:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXWalker63 min
Jun 1, 1:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHarris66 min
Jun 1, 1:28 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBrazoria62 min
Jun 1, 1:46 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXChambers, Galveston59 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1995Every flash flood warning in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.