Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Los Angeles, CA

August 9, 1996Riverside County, California

NWS Los Angeles, CA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 9, 1996, 10:40 PM PDT for Riverside County, California. It was in force for 110 min. 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 9, 1996, 10:40 PM PDT (05:40 UTC)
Expired: Aug 10, 1996, 12:30 AM PDT
In force: 110 min
Issued by: NWS Los Angeles, CA
Area: Whole counties

County Riverside County, CA

The radar

The San Diego radar (KNKX), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:40 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

San Diego, CA (KNKX), launched 00:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 154 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1978 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 117 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 KLAX 100544
FFWLAX
CAC065-100730-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
1040 PM PDT FRI AUG 9 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OXNARD HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM PDT SATURDAY
AUGUST 10 FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN RIVERSIDE COUNTY

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AT 1030 PM INDICATED A BAND OF 
INTENSE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHING FROM 20 MILES NORTHEAST
OF BLYTHE TO 50 MILES EAST OF THE SALTON SEA. THE SHOWERS AND 
THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE WEST AT 17 MPH. RADAR PRECIPITATION 
ESTIMATES INDICATE RAINFALL RATES OF BETWEEN ONE AND A HALF AND TWO 
INCHES PER HOUR ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN RIVERSIDE COUNTY. IN 
ADDITION...AS OF 945 PM...THE IMPERIAL COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT 
REPORTED THAT 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN FROM ONE OF THESE 
THUNDERSTORMS.  

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT. HEAVY
DOWNPOURS AND AREAS OF FLOODING CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN 
RIVERSIDE COUNTY FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS.

MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS 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. 

BRUNO

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 9, 7:00 PM PDT, 3 hours 40 minutes before

CAZ018-100300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
655 PM PDT FRI AUG 9 1996

...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING EASTERN RIVERSIDE COUNTY...

AT 6:50 PM PDT...DOPPLER RADAR...SATELLITE IMAGERY...AND LIGHTNING
DETECTION EQUIPMENT SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS IN PROGRESS OVER WESTERN
ARIZONA. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TOWARDS THE LOWER COLORADO
RIVER VALLEY AND WILL BE OVER UPPER PORTION OF THE LOWER COLOARDO
INDIAN RESERVATION BY 730 PM.

THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LIGHTNING AND GUSTY
WINDS. WINDS TO 40 MILES PER HOUR MAY OCCUR IN ADDITON TO BRIEF
HEAVY RAIN...AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL.

IF OUTDOORS SEEK SHELTER UNTIL THE STORMS HAVE PASSED. MOTORISTS
SHOULD SLOW DOWN AND BE PREPAIRED FOR SUDDEN STRONG WIND GUSTS AND
BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS.

BARUFFALDI

Special weather statement, Aug 9, 9:02 PM PDT, 1 hour 38 minutes before

CAZ018-100530-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
900 PM PDT FRI AUG 9 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE OVER EASTERN DESERTS...

AT 855 PM...DOPPLER RADAR AND SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS
OVER EASTERN RIVERSIDE COUNTY AND OVER EXTREME NORTHEAST IMPERIAL
COUNTY. THE STRONGEST STORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 30 MILES SOUTH OF BLYTHE.
THESE STORMS WERE MOVING OFF THE THE WEST AT 2O MILES PER HOUR.

THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LIGHTNING AND GUSTY
WINDS. WINDS TO 40 MILES PER HOUR MAY OCCUR IN ADDITON TO BRIEF
HEAVY RAIN...AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL.

IF OUTDOORS SEEK SHELTER UNTIL THE STORMS HAVE PASSED. MOTORISTS
TRAVELING ON INTERSTATE 10 AND HIGHWAY 78 IN THE EASTERN DESERTS SHOULD
BE PREPAIRED FOR SUDDEN STRONG WIND GUSTS AND BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS.

BURKE

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 1996 Every 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.