Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 91, NWS Fort Worth, TX

April 4, 1997Ellis County, Johnson County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this flash flood warning at Apr 4, 1997, 6:03 PM CST for Ellis County, Johnson 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: Apr 4, 1997, 6:03 PM CST (00:03 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 1997, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Ellis County, TX, Johnson County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 31 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:03 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, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 56 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: 13 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -87 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 050003
FFWFTW
TXC139-251-050300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
603 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...ELLIS COUNTY...JOHNSON COUNTY
 
AT 603 PM CST...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS FROM ARLINGTON TO MERIDIAN. THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST AT 25
MPH WHILE THE INDIVIDUAL STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THIS
LINE WILL PRODUCE RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO ONE AND A HALF INCHES PER HOUR
AS IT MOVES THROUGH THE WARNED AREA. THIS HEAVY RAIN OCCURRING ON
ALREADY SATURATED SOILS WILL RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHhOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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

Local storm report, Apr 4, 1:55 PM CST, 4 hours 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
155 PM CST FRI APR 04 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0129 PM    3 S MINERAL WELLS         TX   WIND DAMAGE
04/04/97   PALO PINTO                     POWER LINES DOWNED

0145 PM    EASTLAND                  TX   70 MPH TSTM GUST
04/04/97   EASTLAND

0145 PM    EASTLAND                  TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/04/97   EASTLAND

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 6:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Bell	62 min
Apr 4, 7:07 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Collin, Dallas, Kaufman, Rockwall	5 hr
Apr 4, 7:07 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Fannin, Grayson	5 hr
Apr 4, 7:07 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hunt	5 hr
Apr 4, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Kaufman	63 min
Apr 4, 7:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Falls	66 min
Apr 4, 8:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Van Zandt	68 min
Apr 4, 8:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Robertson	64 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.