Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

March 17, 1997Calhoun County, Victoria County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this flash flood warning at Mar 17, 1997, 6:10 AM CST for Calhoun County, Victoria County, Texas. 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: Mar 17, 1997, 6:10 AM CST (12:10 UTC)
Expired: Mar 17, 1997, 12:15 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Calhoun County, TX, Victoria County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:12 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 662 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -43 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 507 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 5.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 171212
FFWCRP
TXC057-469-171815-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
610 AM CST MON MAR 17 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...S...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...CALHOUN COUNTY...VICTORIA COUNTY
 
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL HAS BEEN OCCURRING IN THE CROSSROADS AREA
DURING THE NIGHT. VICTORIA HAS HAD 3 1/2 INCHES OF RAINFALL
SINCE MIDNIGHT AND IS STILL RECEIVING HEAVY RAINFALL NOW.
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUING FROM GOLIAD
TO VICTORIA TO PORT LAVACA.  MOVEMENT IS TO THE NORTHEAST AT
20 MPH.  THIS ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS
WITH ANOTHER 1/2 TO 1 INCH POSSIBLE.
 
WITH ALL THE RAINFALL THAT HAS OCCURRED DURING THE PAST WEEK
FLOODING AND FLASH FLOODING IS POSSIBLE TODAY.  SOME REPORTS
OF STREET FLOODING IN VICTORIA HAS BEEN RECEIVED DURING THE
PAST HOUR.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT. MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT. TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.

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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Mar 17, 2:49 AM CST, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 17, 2:49 AM CST, 3 hours 21 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
245 AM CST MON MAR 17 1997

SHORT TERM...GOOD DRYING ALOFT HAS AIDED IN POTENTIAL INSTABILITY
AND GUD CONVECTION DURING THE PAST FEW HOURS OVR THE GULF. WTR VPR
CONFIRMS THIS WELL.  ETA HAS INITIALIZED WELL AND HAS PINPOINTED
CONVECTIVE AREA VERY WELL IN 6 HR FCST.  EXPECT THERMODYNAMICS TO
TO SPREAD NE ALONG GULF COAST WITH ORGANIZED TSTMS EXITING
CWA/MARINE AREA OVR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.  WL CONT TO MONITOR
W AREAS AS WELL AS FG BEGIN TO DEVELOP.  DO NOT THINK ADVISORY
NEEDED AT THIS TIME SO WL WORD FCST AS PTCHY DENSE FOG.  WOULD LIKE
TO KEEP LOW POPS GOING OVR COASTAL BEND TDY AS GUD INSTABILY AND
WK LOW FORCING COULD PRODUCE SOME RW/TRW DURING MAX HTG...WL KEEP
SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS VCT AREA.

LONG TERM...FNT TO MOVE THRU AREA TUE AFTN AND EVENING WITH PRE
FRONTAL AIRMASS STILL MOIST AND UNSTABLE.  THINK THAT FG WL BE A
LTL MORE WIDESPREAD ESPECIALLY OVR W AND N SXNS.  MDLS ARE SHOWING
GUD LOW LVL VEERING...SO THINK TEMPS MAY WARM WELL ABV MOS.  POPS
IN PREV FCST LOOK VERY GOOD FOR TONIGHT AND TUE.
CRP...

.TODAY...AREAS OF FOG THIS MORNING...OTHERWISE MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A
20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.   HIGHS FROM NEAR 80
INLAND TO NEAR 70S COAST.  SOUTHEAST WIND 15 TO 20 MPH.

VCT...
.TODAY...AREAS OF FOG THIS MORNING...OTHERWISE MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A
30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.  HIGHS IN THE MID
70S.  SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

LRD...
.TODAY...AREAS OF DENSE FOG THIS MORNING...OTHERWISE MOSTLY CLOUDY.
HIGHS IN THE MID 70S.  SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

CRP EE 079/066/087/055 075 212
VCT EE 076/064/083/053 074 313
LRD EB 076/061/0F84/055 076 112

AP...72

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.