Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Flagstaff, AZ

August 3, 1997Navajo County, Arizona

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 12:00Z on 1997-08-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 43 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 12:00Z on 1997-08-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 15 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 2, 8:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGZNavajo30 min
Aug 3, 12:27 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGZCoconino58 min
Aug 3, 1:17 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGZNavajo48 min
Aug 3, 1:46 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningFGZCoconino3 hr
Aug 3, 4:53 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningFGZCoconino2 hr
Aug 3, 5:51 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningFGZNavajo5 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.