Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 38, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 18, 1996Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 18, 1996, 11:34 PM MDT for Eddy County, New Mexico. It was in force for 3 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: Jul 18, 1996, 11:34 PM MDT (05:34 UTC)
Expired: Jul 19, 1996, 2:20 AM MDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Eddy County, NM

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 5.6 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-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: 377 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2793 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 29 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 190537
FFWMAF
NMC015-190820-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1234 AM CDT (1134 PM MDT) FRI JUL 19 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 220 AM MDT (320 AM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO

   ...NORTHERN EDDY COUNTY
 
AT 1115 PM THE ARTESIA POLICE DEPARTMENT INDICATED THAT COTTONWOOD
CREEK NORTH OF ARTESIA WAS BEGINNING TO RISE WITH WATER AS HIGH AS 2
FEET. ROAD BLOCKADES ARE GOING IN PLACE 7 MILES NORTH OF ARTESIA
WITH WATER BEGINNING TO CROSS HIGHWAY 285.

THE THUNDERSTORMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INCREASE ALONG COTTONWOOD
CREEK HAVE DISSIPATED WITH NO ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED THIS
EVENING. HOWEVER ADDITIONAL RISES ALONG THE COTTONWOOD CREEK AND
AREA TRIBUTARIES ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF EDDY COUNTY ARE STILL
POSSIBLE. RESIDENTS ALONG COTTONWOOD CREEK EAST OF 285 SHOULD BE
PREPARED AN INCREASE IN WATER DEPTH BETWEEN 1130 PM AND 220 AM.

PLEASE REPORT ANY FLASH FLOODING TO THE ARTESIA POLICE DEPARTMENT OR
TO THE EDDY COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE AND ASK THEM TO RELAY THE
INFORMATION TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MIDLAND.

IF FLASH FLOODING OBSERVED  ACT QUICKLY AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. :DO NOT STAY IN AREAS
SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION
FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

MURDOCH/FRAZAR

&

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, 8:51 PM MDT, 2 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 8:51 PM MDT, 2 hours 43 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
951 PM CDT (851 PM MDT) THU JUL 18 1996

RECOMMEND NO CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST PACKAGE.

THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DISSIPATED OVER THE LAST HOUR AFTER EARLIER
ACTIVITY NEAR THE GUADALUPE AND DAVIS MOUNTAINS SPREADING EASTWARD
PAST CARLSBAD TO BALMORHEA AND WINK.  ONE ISOLATED BRIEF DOWNBURST
EVENT EARLIER THIS EVENING JUST SOUTH OF CARLSBAD PRODUCED WIND
DAMAGE TO A FEW MOBILE HOMES...DOWNED POWER POLES...WITH OVER AN
INCH OF RAIN AND SMALL HAIL.

AGREE THAT PERSISTANCE WILL HOLD FOR TEMPERATURES OVERNIGHT INTO
TOMORROW.  DEBRIS TYPE HIGH CLOUDS SHOULD QUICKLY DISSIPATE WITH
LITTLE IF ANY CLOUDS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT.  LATEST RUC UPDATE CONFIRMS
THIS BY KEEPING 70F DEW POINTS WELL EAST OF THE AREA.

FAGEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 19, 2:31 AM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Eddy	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 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.