Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 64, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 26, 1996Reeves County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 26, 1996, 2:59 PM CDT for Reeves County, Texas. 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: Aug 26, 1996, 2:59 PM CDT (19:59 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 1996, 5:55 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Reeves County, TX

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 13 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -67 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 661 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 25 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 261959
FFWMAF
TXC389-262255-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
259 PM CDT MON AUG 26 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 555 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST TEXAS

   ...REEVES COUNTY

AT 250 PM CDT...REEVES COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE REPORTED THAT HIGHWAY
17 NEAR THE BALMORHEA...SARAGOSA AREA HAS OVERRUN WITH WATER DUE
TO EARLIER RAINS THIS MONDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON.  WEATHER SPOTTERS
HAVE ALSO REPORTED STREET FLOODING IN THE CITY OF PECOS.

MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND WEATHER SATELLITE PICTURES INDICATED THAT
A DEEP LAYER TROPICAL AIR MASS REMAINS IN PLACE WITH MODERATE TO
HEAVY SHOWERS SCATTERED OVER MUCH OF REEVES COUNTY.  THUS...THE
EARLIER FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR REEVES COUNTY HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING.
 
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.
 
AREA RESIDENTS SHOULD MONITOR FLOOD CONDITIONS... AND BE PREPARED
TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND... SHOULD FLOOD WATERS THREATEN. IF FLASH
FLOODING IS OBSERVED... ACT QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO
ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN
WATER BEGINS RISING.

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

&

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 Aug 26, 2:17 PM CDT, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 2:17 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
217 PM CDT (117 PM MDT) MON AUG 26 1996

RECOMMEND CONTINUING FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR SOUTHWEST TEXAS INTO THE
EVENING HOURS.  MODELS CONSISTENT IN CONTINUING TO PUSH THE MOISTURE
PLUME AND THETA-E RIDGE NORTHWARD IN THE SOUTHERLY FLOW DEPICTED ON
AREA RADAR VAD WIND PROFILERS AND JTN PROFILER.  KMAF RADAR AND WATER
VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATING THE MAIN MOISTURE PLUME AXIS EXTENDING FROM
THE BIG BEND INTO SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...GUADALUPE NATIONAL PARK
REPORTED NEAR TWO INCHES OF RAIN THIS MORNING...OVER AN INCH REPORTED
AT PRESIDIO...VAN HORN AND ALPINE AND NEARLY AN INCH OF RAIN AT
CARLSBAD EARLIER TODAY.  LIGHTNING DATA CURRENTLY SHOWING A FEW
STROKES OVER SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO WITH WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTING A
FEW RUMBLES OF THUNDER ACROSS SOUTHWEST TEXAS AS WARMING TEMPERATURES
HAS INCREASED THE LIFTED INDEX TO -6 THIS AFTERNOON.

OVERCAST CLOUDS...LOWERING AFTER SUNSET...AND ABUNDANT DEEP LAYER
TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE SHOWERS OVERNIGHT...WITH AREAS
OF FOG REDEVELOPING EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.  TROPICAL MOISTURE
PERSISTING OVER AREA WITH AFTERNOON HEATING WILL PROVIDE ADDED
INSTABILITY FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY AFTERNOON.  TEMPS
AND POPS FOR OVERNIGHT ARE A BLEND OF GUIDANCE AND PERSISTENCE.

CNM  66/60
MAF  66/40
MRF  60/40
P07  72/30

FAGEN/FRAZAR

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 26, 12:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 16 minutes before

NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-270500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1243 PM CDT (1143 AM MDT) MON AUG 26 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:
A TROPICAL AIR MASS CONTINUES OVER WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW
MEXICO.  SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING DUE TO DAYTIME HEATING AND
CONTINUED TROPICAL MOISTURE MOVING ACROSS THIS AREA.

THE MAIN THREAT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT IS THE POSSIBILITY OF
HEAVY RAINS ACROSS ALREADY SATURATED GROUNDS RESULTING IN FLASH
FLOODING.  A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 430 PM CDT FOR
CULBERSON...REEVES...JEFF DAVIS AND PRESIDIO COUNTIES WHERE THE
HIGHEST POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING CURRENTLY EXISTS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

FAGEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 25, 9:57 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Presidio	4 hr
Aug 25, 10:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Reeves	4 hr
Aug 26, 2:04 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Presidio	2 hr
Aug 26, 5:58 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Reeves	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.