Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 121, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 19, 1997Cooke County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 19, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT for Cooke County, Texas. 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
May 19, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 1997, 1:15 AM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Cooke County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:18 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 90 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2669 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 39 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
2669 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
801 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
58 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 KFTW 200317
FFWFTW
TXC097-200615-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1015 PM CDT MON MAY 19 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...COOKE COUNTY
 
DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES THAT NEARLY 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN JUST
WEST OF GAINESVILLE. AT 1015 PM...RADAR SHOWED THAT SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM WICHTA FALLS EAST TO SHERMAN. ADDITIONAL
HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS COOKE COUNTY THROUGH
MIDNIGHT. THIS WILL RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING OF LOW LYING...FLOOD PRONE
AREAS AS THESE STORMS MOVE EAST AT 10 MPH.
 
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP 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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 19, 8:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>121-123-129>134-141>145-156-157-159-200230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
850 PM CDT MON MAY 19 1997

THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH TEXAS HAVE WEAKENED AND ARE NO LONGER
EXPECTED TO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER. THUS...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
NUMBER 306 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

BOSQUE    COLLIN    COMANCHE  COOKE     CORYELL   DALLAS    DENTON
EASTLAND  ELLIS     ERATH     FANNIN    GRAYSON   HAMILTON  HILL
HOOD      HUNT      JACK      JOHNSON   KAUFMAN   LAMPASAS  MCLENNAN
MILLS     MONTAGUE  PARKER    ROCKWALL  SOMERVELL STEPHENS  TARRANT
WISE      YOUNG     DELTA     HOPKINS   LAMAR     RAINS
PALO PINTO

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A
HEAVY RAIN THREAT THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT BUT THE THREAT OF LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS HAS DIMINISHED.

69
Special weather statement, May 19, 8:51 PM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>121-123-129>134-141>145-156-157-159-200230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
850 PM CDT MON MAY 19 1997

THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTH TEXAS HAVE WEAKENED AND ARE NO LONGER
EXPECTED TO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER. THUS...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
NUMBER 306 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

BOSQUE    COLLIN    COMANCHE  COOKE     CORYELL   DALLAS    DENTON
EASTLAND  ELLIS     ERATH     FANNIN    GRAYSON   HAMILTON  HILL
HOOD      HUNT      JACK      JOHNSON   KAUFMAN   LAMPASAS  MCLENNAN
MILLS     MONTAGUE  PARKER    ROCKWALL  SOMERVELL STEPHENS  TARRANT
WISE      YOUNG     DELTA     HOPKINS   LAMAR     RAINS
PALO PINTO
:
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A
HEAVY RAIN THREAT THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT BUT THE THREAT OF LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS HAS DIMINISHED.

69

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 19, 7:11 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDCollin3 hr
May 19, 7:39 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDDallas3 hr
May 19, 8:39 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDDenton2 hr
May 19, 8:48 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDHunt, Kaufman3 hr
May 19, 8:48 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDHopkins, Rains3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.