Alert archive / Kansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Topeka, KS

May 31, 1996Cloud County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this flash flood warning at May 31, 1996, 4:19 PM CDT for Cloud County, Kansas. 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
May 31, 1996, 4:19 PM CDT (21:19 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1996, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Cloud County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:22 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 181 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1996-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 344 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1996-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 198 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
344 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-117 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
681 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
201 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 312119
FFWTOP
KSC029-010015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
419 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING       EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...CLOUD COUNTY
 
INCLUDING THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF AURORA...CONCORDIA...GLASCO...HUSCHER
AND MILTONVALE.
 
THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINS HAVE PERSISTED IN CLOUD COUNTY SINCE
1PM.  NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES RAINFALL AMOUNTS
OF 2 TO 3 INCHES OVER MUCH OF CLOUD COUNTY SINCE 1PM WITH LOCAL AREAS AS
MUCH AS 4 INCHES.
 
ADDITIONAL RAINS ARE EXPECTED AND THEt RUNOFF WILL LIKELY CAUSE RAPID
RISES ON CREEKS AND STREAMS AS WELL AS FLOODING IN LOW AREAS.
 
 
DONT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADS!  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN
VEHICLES.
 
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN!

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 31, 12:02 PM CDT, 4 hours 17 minutes before
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058>059-010500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  TOPEKA KS
1203 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL AND
NORTHEAST KANSAS FROM MIDAFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING.

SEVERE STORMS MAY DEVELOP WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL.

A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL BE ENTERING NORTHWEST KANSAS BY THIS
EVENING. AHEAD OF THIS FRONT MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL BE IN PLACE
READY TO DEVELOP AS STRONG OR POSSIBLY SEVERE STORMS.

IN ADDITION TO THE STRONG STORMS...VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL ACCOMPANY
SOME OF THE STORMS. SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY
OVER AREAS ALREADY WET FROM RAINS EARLIER THIS WEEK.

KAYS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 4:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPCloud39 min
May 31, 5:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPClay52 min
May 31, 5:45 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningTOPClay2 hr
May 31, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPClay, Riley30 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Kansas, 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.