Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

January 27, 1997Galveston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jan 27, 1997, 8:24 PM CST for Galveston 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
Jan 27, 1997, 8:24 PM CST (02:24 UTC)
Expired
Jan 27, 1997, 11:30 PM CST
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Galveston County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 32 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:27 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 180 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1997-01-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1472 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1997-01-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 114 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1472 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
733 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
5.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 280225
FFWHOU
TXC167-280530-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
824 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...GALVESTON COUNTY
 
AT 820 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SLOW
MOVING LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHERN GALVESTON
COUNTY MOVING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST. THE LEAGUE CITY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE HAS RECEIVED OVER 3 INCHES OF RAIN FROM THESE STORMS. THE LEAGUE
CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORTED THAT THE INTERSECTION INTERSTATE HIGHWAY
45 AND MAIN STREET ARE RESTRICTED TO ONE LANE DUE TO HIGH WATER WITH
NUMEROUS LOCAL STREETS INUNDATED AND IMPASSABLE.
 
THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE WIDESPREAD AREAS OF 3 INCH
RAINFALL TOTALS WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS OF 5 INCHES POSSIBLE.
 
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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jan 27, 7:54 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 7:54 PM CST, 30 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
750 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997

SEVERE WEATHER CONTINUING WITH NUMEROUS SVR AND TOR WARNINGS.  FLASH
FLOODING ONGOING OVER HARRIS/BRAZ/GLS/LIBERTY CO...WILL BE SHIFTING S
AND EAST.  NUMEROUS REPORTS OF GREATER THAN 3" IN A COUPLE OF HOURS.
TEMPS HAVE BEEN PLUNGING OVER FTW AND NW ZONES.  FRONT HAS REACHED
THROUGH UTS AND NEAR CXO.  WRN EDGE OF THE MOIST AXIS IS FINALLY
SHIFTING TO THE EAST SO FORSEE THE ONGOING SVR TO COME TO AN END BY
10 PM...AND MOVE INTO THE COASTAL WATERS.  WILL NEED TO CONTINUE TS
AND SHRA FOR TONIGHTS ZONES...AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL...ENDING BY
AROUND MIDNIGHT POST FRONTAL.  WOULD NOT SUPRISE @ME TO SEE REPORTS OF
SMALL HAIL WITH ANY OF THE POST FRONTAL TS.

GOT TO RUN...THANKS TO SAT FOR THE HELP!

45

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 27, 3:06 PM CST, 5 hours 18 minutes before
TXZ163-164-179-280210-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
306 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CST FOR A LARGE
PORITON OF EAST TEXAS...

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
FOR A LARGE PORTION OF EAST TEXAS INCLUDING TRINITY...POLK AND
HOUSTON COUNTIES. SOME OF THE CITIES IN THE WATCH AREA ARE CROCKETT
...TRINITY...GROVETON...AND LIVINGSTON.

THE COMBINATION OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE WILL INTERACT WITH A VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE SOUTHEAST
TEXAS AIRMASS TO PRODUCE STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THE PRIMARY
THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS UNTIL 7 PM CST.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO/TV STATION FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS CONCERNING THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER
SITUATION.
Special weather statement, Jan 27, 3:55 PM CST, 4 hours 29 minutes before
TXZ211-237-210-227-198-213-163-200-511-236-199-179-178-164-177-
212-197-226-196-195-214-238-235-176-280400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
355 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN
EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM FOR ALL OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS. THIS WATCH REPLACES THE
PREVIOUS THAT WAS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 95 MILES NORTH AND SOUTH
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF VICTORIA TO 25 MILES
SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF LUFKIN.

THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE INCLUDED...BURLESON...BRAZOS...MADISON...
HOUSTON...TRINITY...POLK...SAN JACINTO...WALKER...GRIMES...
WASHINGTON...AUSTIN...WALLER...MONTGOMERY...HARRIS...LIBERTY...
CAHMBERS...GALVESTON...BRAZORIA...FORT BEND...COLORADO...WHARTON...
JACKSON...MATAGORDA...AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA HAVE ALREADY PRODUCED HAIL AND
TORNADOES.

RESIDENTS ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR RAPIDLY
CHANGING CONDITIONS.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE ADVANCED WARNING.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 27, 6:20 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty3 hr
Jan 27, 6:24 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXLiberty51 min
Jan 27, 6:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXChambers, Harris65 min
Jan 27, 6:52 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBrazoria68 min
Jan 27, 7:06 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXGalveston69 min
Jan 27, 7:14 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXChambers, Harris61 min
Jan 27, 7:36 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXChambers69 min
Jan 27, 8:10 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXGalveston65 min
Jan 27, 8:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk60 min
Jan 27, 9:03 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty3 hr
Jan 27, 9:21 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXGalveston69 min

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.