Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 31, NWS Flagstaff, AZ

September 2, 1997Coconino County, Arizona

NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 2, 1997, 2:33 PM MST for Coconino County, Arizona. It was in force for 57 min. 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 2, 1997, 2:33 PM MST (21:33 UTC)
Expired: Sep 2, 1997, 3:30 PM MST
In force: 57 min
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 21:36 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, 9.6 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: 83 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -75 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1271 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFLG 022134
FFWFLG
AZC005-022230-

BULLTIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
233 PM MST TUE SEP 2 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM MST
AND A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...NORTHWESTERN COCONINO COUNTY
 
...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING UNTIL 3:30 PM MST...

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 14 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SUPAI IS PRODUCING
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND MAY CAUSE LOCAL FLOODING IN THE CANYONS
OF THE HAVASUPAI INDIAN RESERVATION. FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL IS
GREATEST FOR THE SIDE CREEKS AND CANYONS OF CATARACT CREEK. THIS
STORM IS MOVING NORTH NORTHWEST AT 20 MPH. 

AREA RESIDENTS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND IF
HEAVY RAINS OR FLOODING ARE OBSERVED...BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND.

dPEREZ

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 2, 2:10 PM MST, 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 2, 2:10 PM MST, 23 minutes before

NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
200 PM MST TUE SEP 2 1997

ETA SHOWS SOME H3 DVRG AND UVV OVR SOUTHEAST PART OF CWA AT MIDDAY
THEN SHIFTS IT ALL TO THE WESTERN SECTIONS AT 00Z. THIS SCENARIO
STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE WITH NEWEST CONVECTION POPPING UP OVR EASTERN
GILA AND SOUTHERN NAVAJO. WILL TREND FIRST PERIOD THIS WAY WITH
CONVECTION DYING IN EAST BY MIDNIGHT...PERHAPS LINGERING IN WEST AND
CENTRAL WHERE WEAK LIFT REMAINS INTO WEE HOURS OF MORNING. WITH NO
SIGNIF TRIGGER SEEN ON MODELS OR SAT IMAGES IN WEST...WILL NOT ISSUE
ANY FF WATCH TODAY.

FOR WED AND THU...MOISTURE ADVECTING IN FROM EAST INTO OUR EASTERN
SECTIONS SHOULD HAVE POPS BACK TO MODERATE GRADE MONSOON. OTHERWISE
SCT ACTIVITY EXPECTED AS SE FLOW KEEPS NORTHERN AZ UNDER PLENTIFUL
MOISTURE. NEED TO MONITOR FOR SIGNIF TRIGGERS EACH DAY FOR POTENTIAL
FF PROBLEMS.

FLG 353 INW 232
BET
FLG...NONE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 1, 11:34 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	FGZ	Navajo	61 min
Sep 1, 11:34 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	FGZ	Apache	61 min
Sep 1, 11:34 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGZ	Navajo	61 min
Sep 1, 11:34 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGZ	Apache	61 min
Sep 2, 2:33 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGZ	Coconino	57 min
Sep 2, 2:56 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGZ	Coconino	89 min

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.