Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 28, NWS Flagstaff, AZ

September 1, 1997Coconino County, Arizona

NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 1, 1997, 3:25 PM MST for Coconino County, Arizona. 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: Sep 1, 1997, 3:25 PM MST (22:25 UTC)
Expired: Sep 1, 1997, 6:25 PM MST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Flagstaff, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Coconino County, AZ

The radar

The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:27 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

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 68 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: 118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -75 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1302 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 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 KFLG 012226
FFWFLG
AZC005-020125-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
325 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 625 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...NORTHERN COCONINO COUNTY
 
AT 322 PM MST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER THE VERMILION
CLIFFS ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PAGE. THIS STORM WAS MOVING TO
THE NORTHEAST AT AROUND 10 MILES AN HOUR. AREAS INCLUDED IN THIS
WARNING ARE AREAS JUST SOUTH AND WEST OF PAGE...BADGER
CANYON...LEES FERRY AND SIDE CANYONS ALONG THE PARIA RIVER

MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN...
 
IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UPHILL TO ESCAPE
FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER
BEGINS RISING.

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 Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 1, 2:43 PM MST, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 1, 2:43 PM MST, 42 minutes before

NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
230 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

FFA STILL SEEMS PRUDENT OVR FAR NORTHWEST AREAS WITH VORT PROVIDING
TRIGGER IN THE MIDDLE OF DEEP MOISTURE FLOW OVER WESTERN AZ.
HOWEVER...ZONES 8 AND 15 SEEM TO BE STABLIZING SO WILL DROP FFA FOR
THESE AREAS. GOOD RH WITH DYNAMICS LINGERING INTO NIGHT SHOULD KEEP
SKIES FROM CLEARING OUT. WILL WORD TEXT ACCORDINGLY IN FIRST PERIOD
WITH BOOST OF OVRNITE LOWS A BIT.

H5 RIDGE SHIFT WESTWARD WILL CONT TO KEEP MOISTURE FETCH
OVR WESTERN SECTIONS OF FORECAST AREA. NO REAL INDICATION OF
ANOTHER DECENT VORT ATTM FOR TUE...SO SCT SHOWERS WITH SOME
THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED...BACK TO MORE TYPICAL MONSOON WEDNESDAY.

IN THE EAST SECTIONS...MODELS ADVERTISE SOMEWHAT DRIER AIR AND LOWER
THTE ADVECTING INTO AREA AND THIS SEEMS OKAY BASED ON WESTWARD PUSH
OF H5 RIDGE AND DRIER AIR NOTED ON H2O LOOPS TO EAST/SOUTHEAST OF AZ.
SO ISOL TO SCT POPS FOR THE EASTERN SECTIONS TUE...GRADUALLY BOOSTING
THEM UP AGAIN AS RH INCREASE WED.

FURTHER OUT...NOT MUCH CHG EXPECTED AS LONG RANGE MODELS START TO
DISAGREE. AM HOPING FOR AN END TO MONSOON BUT PERSISTENCE SEEMS WISE
ATTM.

FLG 3535 INW 2223
fBET
FLG...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TIL 04Z AZZ004>007

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 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.