Alert archive / Kansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 20, NWS Goodland, KS

August 6, 1996Rawlins County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this flash flood warning at Aug 6, 1996, 9:18 PM CDT for Rawlins County, Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 6, 1996, 9:18 PM CDT (02:18 UTC)
Expired
Aug 7, 1996, 1:15 AM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Rawlins County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:20 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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 155 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2637 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 26 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
2637 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
140 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
6.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 070217
FFWGLD
KSC153-070615-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
818 PM MDT (918 PM CDT) TUE AUG 6 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 AM CDT (1215 AM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWEST KANSAS

   ...SOUTHWESTERN RAWLINS COUNTY
 
AT 915 PM CDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR HAS ESTIMATED THAT OVER 6
INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER EXTREME SOUTHWEST RAWLINS COUNTY
ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTH OF MCDONALD.  THE BULLSEYE OF THE HEAVIEST
RAINFALL TOTALS WAS JUST SOUTH OF BEAVER CREEK...BUT ENOUGH RUNOFF
MAY ENTER THE CREEK TO CAUSE FLOODING.

THIS WARNING UPGRADES THE EARLIER SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR
THE SAME AREA.

THOSE WHO LIVE ALONG BEAVER CREEK IN SOUTHWEST RAWLINS COUNTY
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR RAPID WATER LEVEL RISES AND POSSIBLE FLOODING.
WATER LEVEL RISES ALONG THE CREEK MAY BE EXPERIENCED AS FAR
NORTHEAST AS ATWOOD.  DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS
THE ROAD!

VJN

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 6, 2:40 PM CDT, 6 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 6, 2:40 PM CDT, 6 hours 38 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
140 PM MDT (240 PM CDT) TUE AUG 6 1996

...BIG CHALLENGE IS TSTM CHANCES THIS EVE/TONIGHT...

ETA MDL OF CHOICE DUE TO SFC FTRS AND PAST PERFORMANCE.
ETA SFC LOW OVR KS/NE BORDER THIS EVE WITH LOW LVL MSTR CONVERGENCE
POOLING NEAR LOW VCNTY.  BEST UPWARD FORCING IS INDICATED ON TOP OF
AND N OF THIS SFC LOW.  MODIFIED MORNING SNDGS ALSO POINT TO THIS
AREA WITH MUCH MORE POTENTIAL ENERGY AND INSTABILITY.  A MODIFIED
SOUNDING BETWEEN MCK-LBF OUTPUTS CAPE OF AROUND 5000 J/KG.

S AND W OF THIS AREA...SFC DEWPOINTS HAVE DRIED OUT THIS AFTN
WITH SW SFC WNDS AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT.  TAIL END OF S/WV SHOULD
EFFECT FAR E COLO INTO NW KS WITH RETURN OF LOW LVL MSTR FORECAST.
ATTM...STRONG CAP INDICATED BY ADAPS OVR HI PLAINS SPCLY W OF GLD.
ARRIVAL OF COLD FRONT THIS EVE AND 850-700 TEMP ADVECTION WILL HELP
DESTABILIZE THE AMS.  STILL CONCERN ABT ETA KEEPING DRIER AIR
OVR FAR NW KS/E COLO.  WITH MAIN ENERGY JUST N OF CWA AND UPPER LVL
FLOW MORE SW TO NE...FEEL ANY ACTIVITY WILL BE MOSTLY OUT OF FA.

IN OUT PERIODS...FRONT AND ASSOCIATED MSTR CONVERGENCE PUSHES SE
LATER TONIGHT.  STRONG SFC HI PRESSURE BUILDS OVR E COLO INTO W
KS WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH AMS BCMG MORE STABLE.  MDLS AGREE IN
PUSHING DRIER AIR INTO AREA WED AND THURS WITH BUILDING 500MB HGTS.

GLD 56/83/58/90 10-    HLC 62/86/61/91 2--
CBK 58/84/60/91 10-    MCK 62/84/60/90 30-
TRB 58/85/60/91 -0-    ITR 55/82/57/89 10-

KPL

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 6:57 PM CDT, 2 hours 21 minutes before
KSZ001>004-013>016-NEZ080-081-070400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
556 PM MDT (656 PM CDT) TUE AUG 6 1996

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF NORTHWEST KANSAS AND
SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA UNTIL 10 PM MDT (11 PM CDT)...

A LINE OF STRONG-TO-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE SLOWLY TO
THE NORTHEAST ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THIS EVENING. EXPECT SOME OF
THE CELLS IN THIS LINE OF STORMS TO PRODUCE TORNADOES.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN
AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ALSO
OCCUR.  BE READY TO MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR STORM CELLAR IF A WARNING
IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIZO...RADIO OR TELEVISION FOR THE
LATEST UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS CONCERNING THIS DANGEROUS
WEATHER SITUATION.

VOJTESAK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 7:07 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDThomas48 min
Aug 6, 7:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur63 min
Aug 6, 7:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur61 min
Aug 6, 7:53 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDThomas47 min
Aug 6, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins47 min
Aug 6, 8:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDNorton49 min
Aug 6, 8:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins, Thomas61 min
Aug 6, 8:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur65 min
Aug 6, 9:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins47 min
Aug 6, 10:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins62 min
Aug 6, 10:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne62 min
Aug 6, 11:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins62 min
Aug 7, 12:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur66 min
Aug 7, 12:39 AM CDTTornado WarningGLDSherman51 min
Aug 7, 1:38 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningGLDDecatur, Rawlins6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kansas, 1996Every flash flood warning in 1996

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.