Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 37, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 18, 1996Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 18, 1996, 3:40 PM MDT for Eddy County, New Mexico. It was in force for 60 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
Jul 18, 1996, 3:40 PM MDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 18, 1996, 4:40 PM MDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Eddy County, NM

The radar

The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 183 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:43 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 206 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1996-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 87 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1996-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 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
87 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-364 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1663 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 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 KMAF 182144 COR
FFWMAF
NMC015-182240-

BULLENTIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
440 PM CDT (340 PM MDT) THU JUL 18 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
UNTIL 6 PM MDT (7 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO

   ...SOUTHERN AND  CENTRAL EDDY COUNTY

AT 335 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 14 MILES SOUTHEAST OF CARLSBAD OR
3 MILES SOUTH OF LOVING MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... LOVING... OTIS AND
CARLSBAD.

SPOTTER REPORTS AT 335 PM NEAR THE CARLSBAD AIRPORT INDICATED
STRONG GUSTY WINDS...BRIEF QUARTER SIZED HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY
DOWNBURST RAINS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STORM.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR
PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

$$

FAGEN

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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 18, 1:34 PM MDT, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 1:34 PM MDT, 2 hours 6 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
232 PM CDT THU JUL 18 1996

17Z SFC ANALYSIS HAD LEE TROF THAT EXTENDED FROM WRN KS ACROSS
THE EXTREME NW TX PNHDL INTO ERN NM AND SW TX.  MDTLY STRONG
SLY WINDS HAVE DEVELOPED OVER THE TX PNHDL IN RESPONSE TO
MIGRATORY S/W TROF CURRENTLY LOCATED OVER GREAT LAKES.  TSRA
DEVELOPMENT HAS ALREADY BEGUN NEAR THE TROF AXIS ALONG HIER TERRAIN
OF SW TX. THIS ACTIVITY HAS DEVELOPED IN AN AREA OF MDT INSTABILITY
WITH LI/S OF -6. WITH AREA PROFILERS INDICATING WEAK MID- TO
UPPER-LEVEL WINDS...GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS SHOULD BE THE MAIN
THREAT WITH THIS CONVECTION.

CONUS UPR-LVL PATTERN TO AMPLIFY OVR THE PD AS S/W RDG DEVELOPS OVR
N-CNTRL US.  FURTHER S...SRN US RDG TO BUILD WWD AS HGHTS INCREASE
OVER THE DESERT SW....RESULTING IN GENERAL SYNOPTIC SCALE SUBSIDENCE
OVER THE FA.  THIS SHOULD EFFECTIVELY BEGIN TO REDUCE THE AREAL
COVERAGE OF THE PM TSRA EVEN WITH SFC TROF AND AMPLE MOISTURE
REMAINING IN PLACE.

FOR TONIGHT...BELIEVE THERE MIGHT BE SOME HIGH CLOUDINESS OVER THE
PERMIAN BASIN IN THE FORM OF RESIDUAL CONVECTIVE DEBRIS.
OTHERWISE... WL TEND TO STICK WITH PERSISTENCE WITH TEMPS.

CNM  70/20
MAF  74/10
MRF  6T1/10
P07  75/0

MEAD/EARLE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 18, 10:37 AM MDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before
NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-190500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1135 AM CDT (1035 AM MDT) THU JUL 18 1996

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   CULBERSON  GLASSCOCK   MARTIN    REAGAN   UPTON
BORDEN    DAWSON     HOWARD      MIDLAND   REEVES   WARD
BREWSTER  ECTOR      JEFF DAVIS  PECOS     SCURRY   WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES     LOVING      PRESIDIO  TERRELL

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

SYNOPSIS:  THE MAIN FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL
PRIMARILY BE OVER THE MOUNTAINS.  HOWEVER... SOME OF THESE STORMS
MAY DRIFT OFF THE MOUNTAINS AS THEY MOVE EAST TO NORTHEAST.
THEREFORE... WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE BY
AFTERNOON WEST OF A LINE FROM SANDERSON... TO FORT STOCKTON... TO
WINK AND TO HOBBS.

DUE TO THE LACK OF UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT... STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP ARE
NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE. HOWEVER... THE STRONGER STORMS WILL
HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY
RAINFALL.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

EARLE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 18, 3:40 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy2 hr
Jul 18, 3:40 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEddy60 min
Jul 18, 3:40 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEddy2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 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.