Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Buffalo, NY

July 15, 1997Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Jul 15, 1997, 3:22 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. It was in force for 2 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 15, 1997, 3:22 PM EDT (19:22 UTC)
Expired
Jul 15, 1997, 5:25 PM EDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Buffalo, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:26 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 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 76 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-07-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 758 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-07-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 57 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
758 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-144 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1163 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
54 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 151923
FFWBUF
NYC009-152125-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
322 PM EDT TUE JUL 15 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 525 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST NEW YORK

   ...CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
 
REPEATED HEAVY RAIN DUE TO SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON
WILL PRODUCE RAPID FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS IN CATTARAUGUS COUNTY.  IN
ADDITION THERE WILL BE PONDING ON ROADS AND IN LOW LYING AREAS AS
STORMS MOVE INTO CATTARAUGUS COUNTY FROM CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE 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.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 15, 1:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus, Erie63 min
Jul 15, 3:12 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningBUFChautauqua2 hr
Jul 15, 3:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua2 hr
Jul 15, 4:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCayuga33 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 1997Every 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.