Alert archive / North Dakota / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 26, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 25, 1997Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this flash flood warning at Jul 25, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT for Walsh County, North Dakota. 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 25, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 25, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Walsh County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:44 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 286 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: 655 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -252 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 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 KFAR 252346
FFWFAR
NDC099-260200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
645 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...CENTRAL AND EAST WALSH COUNTY
 
AT 640 PM OBSERVERS IN THE CITY OF PARK RIVER INDICATE STREET FLOODING
DUE TO TORRENTIAL RAINS. RADAR INDICATES 2 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS
FALLEN IN THE PARK RIVER AREA SINCE 500 PM CDT. THE INTENSE
THUNDERSTORMS WHICH WERE PRODCUING THE INTENSE RAINS WERE SLOWLY MOVING
EAST LESS THAN 10 MILES AN HOUR. EXPECT FLOODING RAINS TO CONTINUE IN
THE PARK RIVER AREA THROUGH 900 PM. RESIDENTS ALONG THE PARK RIVER
BETWEEN PARK RIVER AND GRAFTON SHOULD EXPECT TO SEE SOME RISES DUE TO
THE HEAVY RAINS.
 
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.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER...MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
EWENS

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 25, 2:56 PM CDT, 3 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 2:56 PM CDT, 3 hours 49 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
255 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997

PROBLEM FOR FIRST PERIOD IS PCPN. TSRA ALREADY IN WESTERN PART OF CWFA
MOVINMG NE WITH KMVX 88D ESTIMATING 1.4 INCHES IN SOUTHERN BENSON
COUNTY. 18Z SFC ANALYSIS HAS STATIONARY FRONT SLIGHTLY FURTHER EAST
WITH NUMEROUS LEFTOVER BOUNDARIES. NGM CONTINUES TO HAVE THE BEST
HANDLE ON SITUATION WITH UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND NE-SW ORIENTED
THETA-E RIDGE. LOOKS LIKE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS IN THE DVL
AREA. THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO A GOOD POSSIBILITY. FLASH
FLOOD GUIDANCE IN DVL AREA RANGES FROM 1 INCH TO UNDER 2 INCHES IN THREE
HOURS. SUGGEST STRONGLY CONSIDER FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR DVL AREA.

SUGGESTIONS:
DVL/NELSON/GRIGGS/BARNES...GOOD CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLY
SEVERE WITH HEAVY RAIN. LOW NEAR 65.
GFK/FAR...A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW OF 65 TO 70.
ROX/TVF/BJI...A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW OF 65 TO 70.
DTL/FFM...A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE UPPER 60S.

GSF

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Towner	35 min
Jul 25, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	28 min
Jul 25, 4:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier	32 min
Jul 25, 5:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Walsh	33 min
Jul 25, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Walsh	30 min
Jul 25, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Sargent	34 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Dakota, 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.