Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 29, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

May 23, 1997San Patricio County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 23, 1997, 10:44 AM CDT for San Patricio County, Texas. 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 23, 1997, 10:44 AM CDT (15:44 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 1997, 1:45 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County San Patricio County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:47 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, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 36 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: 2011 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 470 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 231546
FFWCRP
TXC409-231845-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1044 AM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...EASTERN SAN PATRICIO COUNTY
 
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL HAVE
MOVED INTO EASTERN SAN PATRICIO COUNTY. THE ACTIVITY
EXTENDS FROM TAFT TO PORTLAND TO PORT ARANSAS.  MOVEMENT IS
TO THE NORTH AT 10 TO 15 MPH.
 
THIS ACTIVITY PRODUCED RAINFALL OF 2 INCHES OR MORE IN THE
CORPUS CHRISTI AREA AND COULD PRODUCE SIMILAR AMOUNTS IN THE
NEXT FEW HOURS IN EASTERN SAN PATRICIO COUNTY...RESULTING IN
FLASH FLOODING.
 
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 WATtER 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 May 23, 8:58 AM CDT, 1 hour 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 8:58 AM CDT, 1 hour 46 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
900 AM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

WV IMAGERY SHOWS DECENT S/W OVR NRN MX THAT WL TRACK EWD TOWARD
DRT/LRD AND TOWARD THE COASTAL PLAINS LATER TODAY. CRP 12Z SOUNDING
CALCULATED FM SHARP VERY MOIST...UNSTABLE AND UNCAPPED (LI -6...K 35
...CAPE +2900 JKG-1 AND PW 1.77 INCHES). MANUAL PROGS SUGGEST THAT
THE WARM FNT XTNDS ACROSS NE TX/LA...HOWEVER STREAMLINE ANALYSIS
SUGGESTS THAT THE MAIN BNDRY EXISTS FARTHER S ALONG A DRT-CRP LINE.
OUTFLO FM LAST NIGHT'S CNVTN JUST PAST THRU THE CRP INTL AIRPORT
WHILE KCRP 88D BASE REF SHOWING NEW CONVECTIVE DVLPMNT ALONG THE SRN
PORTIONS OF THIS OUTFLO TRACKING NWD. GIVEN THE INSTABILITY IN PLACE
ACROSS THE FA AND APPROACHING S/W FM THE W...SEE NO NEED TO DEVIATE
FM PREVIOUS FCST BUT WL INCREASE POPS FOR THE ERN HALF TO 70% CHANCE
OF SHRA/TSTM...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE. WL ALSO INCREASE POPS
IN THE WRN HALF OF THE FA TO 50% CHA|NCE OF SHRA/TSTM... LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINFALL POSSIBLE.

SRP...77

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 10:08 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	Nueces	3 hr
May 23, 1:30 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	Calhoun	2 hr
May 23, 3:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Bee, Live Oak	67 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.