Alert archive / Colorado / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997
Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Grand Junction, CO
NWS Grand Junction, CO issued this flash flood warning at Aug 5, 1997, 10:24 PM MDT for Garfield County, Colorado. 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
- Aug 5, 1997, 10:24 PM MDT (04:24 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 6, 1997, 1:15 AM MDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Junction, CO
- Area
- Whole counties
County Garfield County, CO
The radar
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:25 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
Grand Junction, CO (KGJT), launched 00:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 73 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
- 1119 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -16 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1369 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 8 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -15 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 KGJT 060429 COR FFWGJT COC045-060715- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION/IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 1024 PM MDT TUE AUG 5 1997 * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR CENTRAL GARFIELD COUNTY COLORADO - NORTHWEST COLORADO * UNTIL 115 AM MDT * SOME LOCATIONS/STREAMS AFFECTED GOVERNMENT CREEK...RIFLE CREEK AND DRAINAGES IN AND AROUND RIO BLANCO. * LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS HAVE CAUSED RAPID RISES IN GOVERNMENT CREEK AND RIFLE CREEK AS REPORTED BY THE RIFLE POLICE DEPARTMENT. WATER HAS ALSO BEEN REPORTED OVER SOME ROADWAYS IN THE RIO BLANCO AREA. * LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS THE GRAND JUNCTION RADAR SHOWS REDEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE WEST MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. LEAVE FLOOD PRONE OR LOW LYING AREAS IMMEDIATELY. MC
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 Grand Junction, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 5, 1:31 PM MDT, 8 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 1:31 PM MDT, 8 hours 53 minutes before
COZ001>012-014-015-017>023-UTZ023>027-060730- WESTERN COLORADO & EASTERN UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO 128 PM MDT TUE AUG 5 1997 IT IS A CONFUSING WEATHER SITUATION IN MY OPINION. BASED ON SATELLITE MOVEMENTS...ALL MODELS SEEMED TO BE CORRECT YESTERDAY IN TAKING THE LOW NORTHWARD INTO EASTERN IDAHO AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA. THEY ALL THEN MOVED THE LOW TO THE SOUTHEAST WITH A BIG ASSOCIATED VORTICITY AREA MOVING INTO WESTERN WY BY THIS EVENING. THAT TREND STILL REMAINS ON THE LATEST MODEL RUNS AND LOOKS OK. AT THE SAME TIME...THEY KEPT LOTS OF MOISTURE AROUND ESPECIALLY OVER THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA ALTHOUGH SOME DRYING IS INDICATED. SATELLITE...HOWEVER...IS ALREADY SHOWING GOOD DRYING OVER MOST OF UTAH MOVING INTO OUR AREA. GRANTED THE MOISTURE SEEN ON SATELLITE IN THE SALT LAKE CITY AREA DOES CORRESPOND WITH VORT LOBE/TROUGH SEEN ON MODELS. THIS SHOULD ARRIVE IN NORTHWEST CO/NORTHEAST UT EARLY THIS EVENING AND COULD BE ENOUGH TO KICK OFF SOME HEAVY RAIN SO EXPECT THE FFA SHOULD CONTINUE THIS EVENING. CONFUSION COMES WITH THE 24 HOUR PATTERN. THE MODELS BRING THE LOW INTO NORTHEAST CO...AS I WOULD EXPECT GIVEN THE 300 MB FLOW...BUT THEY MOVE THE MAJOR VORT LOBE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ALMOST STRAIGHT SOUTH. THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME. BOTTOM LINE...I EXPECT QUITE A BIT OF DRYING TONIGHT AND WED OVER MOST OF OUR CWA MAINLY TO THE SOUTH OF THE TAVAPUTS PLATEAU (ZONE 3) WITH CONVECTION BUILDING UP DURING THE DAY MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND TEMPS A BIT CLOSER TO NORMALS. SOME EXTRA MOISTURE IS LIKELY TO REMAIN OVER THE NORTHERN SECTION SO A BIT MORE CLOUDINESS IS LIKELY BUT STILL EXPECT GENERALLY PARTLY CLOUDY MORNINGS. RWJJ
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Junction, CO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 1:23 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | GJT | Garfield | 3 hr |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Colorado, 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.