Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Buffalo, NY

February 20, 1997Erie County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Feb 20, 1997, 12:26 AM EST for Erie County, New York. It was in force for 8 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: Feb 20, 1997, 12:26 AM EST (05:26 UTC)
Expired: Feb 20, 1997, 8:00 AM EST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Erie County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:26 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 20 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: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 76 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 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 KBUF 200526
FFWBUF
NYC029-201300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
1226 AM EST THU FEB 20 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS EXTENDED A FLOOD WARNING FOR 
CAZENOVIA CREEK IN ERIE COUNTY FROM WEST SENECA DOWNSTREAM INTO 
BUFFALO UNTIL 8AM EST.

AN ICE JAM THAT HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAS CAUSED A
BACKUP OF WATER ON CAZENOVIA CREEK. SNOWMELT FROM TUESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY COMBINED WITH ABOUT A HALF INCH OF RAIN WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 
IN THE HEADWATERS OF BUFFALO AREA CREEKS LED TO A RAPID RISE ON 
CAZENOVIA CREEK IN THE ORCHARD PARK ROAD/RIDGE ROAD AREA. THE LEVEL 
OF THE GAGE AT EBENEZER PEAKED AT 12.28 FEET AT 750 PM. IT WAS DOWN 
TO 11.24 AS OF 1140 PM. SENECA STREET WAS CLOSED FOR AWHILE WEDNESDAY 
EVENING BETWEEN LIND AVENUE AND MAIN STREET BUT IT HAS SINCE BEEN 
REOPENED. IMPROVEMENT WAS IN PROGRESS IN WEST SENECA BUT SOME 
FLOODING WAS TILL OCCURRING. THE ICE JAM HAS PARTIALLY BROKEN UP AND 
THE HIGHER WATERS WERE MOVING DOWNSTREAM TOWARD CAZENOVIA PARK.

IF YOU LIVE ALONG THE AFFECTED AREAS OF CAZENOVIA CREEK YOU ARE 
ALREADY AWARE OF THE PROBLEM. BE READY FOR FURTHER RISES THROUGH THE 
NIGHT FROM CAZENOVIA PARK DOWNSTREAM TO THE STEVENSON STREET BRIDGE.

BY MORNING WE EXPECT AN IMPROVEMENT AS THE RUNOFF SLOWS DOWN.
 
PEOPLE WITH INTERESTS NEAR CAZENOVIA CREEK SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE 
ALERT
FOR RISING WATER AND TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY.

SAGE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 19, 8:04 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Erie	6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 1997 Every flash flood warning in 1997

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.