Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997
Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Flagstaff, AZ
NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 3, 1997, 4:08 PM MDT for Navajo County, Arizona. It was in force for 117 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
- Aug 3, 1997, 4:08 PM MDT (22:08 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 3, 1997, 6:05 PM MDT
- In force
- 117 min
- Issued by
- NWS Flagstaff, AZ
- Area
- Whole counties
County Navajo County, AZ
The radar
The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:09 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, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 136 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 43 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -78 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1416 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 15 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFLG 032210 FFWFLG AZC017-040005- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 308 PM MST SUN AUG 3 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 505 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHEASTERN ARIZONA ...NORTH CENTRAL NAVAJO COUNTY AT 300 PM MST...FLAGSTAFF DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN BETWEEN SECOND MESA AND DILKON IN NORTH CENTRAL NAVAJO COUNTY. RADAR ESTIMATED BETWEEN TWO AND THREE INCHES HAD FALLEN OVER THE JADITO AND POLACCA WASHES. PEOPLE NEAR THE JADITO AND POLACCA WASHES SHOULD MONITOR CONDITIONS AND MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER COVERED ROADS IN YOUR VEHICLE.
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 Aug 3, 3:09 PM MDT, 59 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 3:09 PM MDT, 59 minutes before
NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 205 PM MST SUN AUG 03 1997 BUSY KEEPING UP WITH THE SHORT FUSED PRODUCTS THIS AFTERNOON...AS QUITE A BIT OF MOISTURE HAS WORKED INTO THE AREA...FOCUSING MAINLY ON THE HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL FOR THE CWA FIRST PERIOD. FROM THE MODEL DATA IT APPEARS THAT THE 12Z ETA DID NOT DO A GOOD JOB IN PLACING VORT MAX CURRENTLY OVER BAJA IN ITS INITIALIZATION. THE 12Z NGM ONLY DID SLIGHTLY BETTER. THE 12Z AVN WAS NOT INITIALIZED WELL OVER THE SOUTHWEST EITHER. THEREFORE...DO NOT REALLY TRUST MODELS FOR THE LONGER TERM. FROM SAT WATER VAPOR IMAGERY IT APPEARS THE VORT MAX WILL MAKE A BEE-LINE UP THE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY...BUT A RELATIVELY SLOW BEE-LINE. FORECAST PROBLEM OF THE DAY IS WHETHER THE DYNAMICS WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO KICK OFF SOME NOCTURNAL ACTIVITY OVER SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE CWA. WITH PRECIP ALREADY RECEIVED THERE...FLASH FLOODING WILL BECOME A REAL CONCERN. OVER THE NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA...HAVE KEPT FIRST PERIOD POPS RELATIVELY HIGH AS TODAYS CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY CONTINUES TO WORK TO THE NORTH. AFTER THE FIRST PERIOD HAVE MAINLY BROAD-BRUSHED POPS OVER THE CWA...WITH FAVORED AREAS OVER THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...AS MOISTURE SHOULD CONTINUE TO FILTER INTO THESE AREAS. FOR TEMPS...NGM MOS LOOKS LIKE IT HAS A DECENT HANDLE ON TEMPS...EVEN CAPTURING THE HIGHER MINS EXPECTED TO NIGHT WITH THE CLOUD COVER IN PLACE. ONLY MADE A FEW MINOR ADJXUSTMENTS TO THE MOS NUMBERS. FLG 573 INW 553 FLG...NONE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 8:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGZ | Navajo | 30 min |
| Aug 3, 12:27 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 58 min |
| Aug 3, 1:17 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGZ | Navajo | 48 min |
| Aug 3, 1:46 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 3 hr |
| Aug 3, 4:53 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 2 hr |
| Aug 3, 5:51 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Navajo | 5 hr |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1997Every 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.