Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 40, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 20, 1996Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 20, 1996, 5:40 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 20, 1996, 5:40 PM MDT (23:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1996, 8:40 PM MDT
In force
3 hr
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 23:42 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, 11.7 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 1996-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 209 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 1996-07-20The 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
209 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-378 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1915 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 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
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 202340
FFWMAF
NMC015-210240-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
640 PM CDT (540 PM MDT) SAT JUL 20 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 840 PM MDT (940 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO

   ...NORTHERN EDDY COUNTY
 
AT 537 PM MDT (637 PM CDT)... RAINFALL ESTIMATES FROM 2 TO 3 INCHES
HAVE OCCURRED 15 MILES NORTHEAST OF CARLSBAD.  THE THUNDERSTORM
PRODUCING THIS HEAVY RAINFALL HAS MOVED VERY LITTLE OVER THE LAST
HOUR AND CONTINUES TO PRODUCE 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN PER HOUR.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. ,THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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 20, 2:27 PM MDT, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 2:27 PM MDT, 3 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
327 PM CDT SAT JUL 20 1996

ANALYSIS OF LATEST VIS LOOP CONFIRMS DEVELOPING RW/TRW ACTIVITY
THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN FA WHICH KMAF WSR-88D CURRENTLY INDICATES.
ALSO...WSR-88D CURRENTLY INDICATING AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY MOVING
THROUGH GAINES...DAWSON...AND BORDEN COUNTIES. MODELS INITIATED A
WEAK VORT MAX OVER TX PANHANDLE AND BELIEVE SATELLITE DATA CONFIRMS
THIS. BELIEVE THIS VORT MAX IS AIDING THE TRW DEVELOPMENT THIS
AFTERNOON.

AS FOR TEMPERATURES...BELIEVE PERSISTENCE IS THE BEST HERE. GUIDANCE
WAS TOO LOW YESTERDAY. THUS...HAVE GONE WITH PERSISTENCE.

AS FOR POPS...BELIEVE WE SHOULD INCLUDE NORTHERN COUNTIES IN FA DUE
TO OUTFLOW BOUNDARY. BELIEVE ISOLATED WORDING FOR TONIGHT WOULD BE
BEST. OTHERWISE...POPS FROM PREVIOUS PACKAGE IS RIGHT ON TRACK.

APPRECIATED OUTSTANDING GUIDANCE AND INPUT FROM THE LBB TEAM!

CNM 74 20
MAF 75 00
MRF 63 20
P07 77 00

HUBER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 19, 11:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea65 min
Jul 20, 2:06 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea64 min

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.