Alert archive / Idaho / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Missoula, MT

April 24, 1996Clearwater County, Shoshone County, Idaho

NWS Missoula, MT issued this flash flood warning at Apr 24, 1996, 8:30 AM PDT for Clearwater County, Shoshone County, Idaho. It was in force for 6 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: Apr 24, 1996, 8:30 AM PDT (15:30 UTC)
Expired: Apr 24, 1996, 2:00 PM PDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT
Area: Whole counties

Counties Clearwater County, ID, Shoshone County, ID

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:30 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

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 12:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 54 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 160 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -828 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSO 241537
FFWMSO
IDC079-035-242100-

SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
930 AM MDT (830 AM PDT) WED APR 24 1996

...SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR SHOSHONE AND
   CLEARWATER COUNTIES...

SMALL STREAM FLOODING HAS BEGUN ACROSS PARTS OF SHOSHONE AND
CLEARWATER COUNTIES.  THIS IS THE RESULT OF A MOIST WEATHER SYSTEM
THAT MOVED THROUGH NORTHERN IDAHO LAST NIGHT AND EARLY THIS MORNING.
THE SYSTEM CONTINUES TO PRODUCE RAIN OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE
PANHANDLE THIS MORNING.

AT 8 AM PDT...WATER WAS REPORTED FLOWING OUT OF THE BANKS OF PINE
CREEK SOUTH OF PINEHURST.  NO DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED IN THE
PINEHURST AREA THUS FAR...BUT BRIDGES AND OTHER STRUCTURES IN THE
AREA MAY BE THREATENED IF THE CONDITION WORSENS.  DISASTER AND
EMERGENCY SERVICES OFFICIALS REPORTED THAT NEARLY ALL SMALL STREAMS
IN THE TWO COUNTIES ARE EXPERIENCING MINOR FLOODING OR ARE AT BANK
FULL LEVELS THIS MORNING.

SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS IN THE PINEHURST AREA REPORTED OVER AN INCH
AND A HALF OF RAIN IN THEIR GAGES FROM LAST NIGHTS STORM.  THE RAIN
HAS BEGUN TO DECREASE OVER NORTHERN IDAHO...BUT SCATTERED SHOWERS
THROUGH THE AFTERNOON COULD KEEP STREAMS RUNNING HIGH.

IF YOU LIVE NEAR ANY CREEKS OR STREAMS BE PREPARED FOR RAPIDLY RISING
WATER. BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. REMEMBER...NEVER DRIVE
OVER FLOODED ROADS.

WHITMORE

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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Apr 24, 7:46 AM PDT, 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 24, 7:46 AM PDT, 44 minutes before

88D VWP SHOWS WINDS ALOFT STRENGTHENING AND LOWERING.  WIND ADVISORY
LOOKS OK...AND IS HANDLED WELL IN ZONES...WILL LIKELY BLOW DOWN A LOT
OF TREES TODAY AS SATURATED GROUND WILL ALLOW EASY UPROOTING.  ON
HYDRO SIDE...LOTS OF RAIN IN IDAHO/SHOSHONE/CLEARWATER AND MINERAL
COUNTY OVERNIGHT...WILL LIKELY UPGRADE TO FLOOD WARNING ON ST JOE
NEAR CALDER...AND MIGHT ADD IDAHO COUNTY TO SMALL STREAM FLOOD
ADVISORY...WILL CALL BOI WHEN WE GET A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION AND
DECIDE.  NO CHANGES TO POPS OR TEMPS...SINCE HAVENT REALLY LOOKED AT
ENOUGH TO DISAGREE YET. BARKER.

FCA 721 053/037/055
LIB 721 052/036/055
POL 721 053/037/056
MSO 821 056/037/059
HMM 821 057/038/061
FN/01

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Idaho, 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.