Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 25, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

May 9, 1997Victoria County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 9, 1997, 1:40 PM CDT for Victoria County, Texas. It was in force for 4 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 9, 1997, 1:40 PM CDT (18:40 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Victoria County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:39 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, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 124 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: 1825 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 476 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 091841
FFWCRP
TXC469-092245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
140 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...VICTORIA COUNTY
 
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OF OVER 2 INCHES IN THE LAST HOUR OVER VICTORIA
COUNTY HAS FALLEN AT THE VICTORIA AIRPORT. DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES
2 TO 3 INCHES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF HOURS.
 
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON INCREASING THE THREAT
OF FLOODING IN RIVERS...CREEKS AND LOW-LYING AREAS.
 
DUE TO THE RECENT RAINS IN MARCH AND APRIL MAJOR FLOODING IS LIKELY.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE 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.

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 May 9, 10:52 AM CDT, 2 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 10:52 AM CDT, 2 hours 48 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED FOR SEA CONDITIONS...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1050 AM CDT WED MAY 7 1997

SOLID LINE OF WEAKENING TSRA/SHRA MOVING SOUTHEAST ESPECIALLY ON
WESTERN END NEAR LRD. THE LINE TO MOVE THORUGH MOST OF AREA TODAY.
NEED TO INCREASE POPS/INSERT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS ALL AREAS.

12Z CRP SOUNDING SHOWS PW OF 1.75...K OF 30...LI OF -7 AND A GOOD
STEADY FLOW OF MOISTURE OF THE GULF. THIS TYPE OF MOIST...UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE WILL PROVIDE THE FUEL FOR SCT TSRA GOING THRU THE DAY.

ATMOSPHERE RIPE FOR MORE TSRA/SHRA TONIGHT...OUTFLOW/FRONT POSITION
AND WHERE DISTURBANCES WILL TRACK CRITICAL WHERE HEAVIEST RAINS WILL
FALL.  MORE ON THIS ON AFTERNOON PACKAGE.

...CHANGES TO ZONES...
VCT...60 POPS LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN.
CRP...60 POPS LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. HIGH...LOW 80S INLAND UPPER 70S COAST.
LRD...HIGH...UPPER 70S.

MARINE DATA...2-3 FEET WAVES AND EAST WINDS OF 10 KNOTS.

LUNA...0074

The office that day

Everything else NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 12:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Jim Wells	37 min
May 9, 12:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Nueces, San Patricio	53 min
May 9, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Kleberg, Nueces	65 min
May 9, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	San Patricio	65 min

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.