Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 30, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

April 11, 1997Wharton County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Apr 11, 1997, 1:07 AM CDT for Wharton County, Texas. It was in force for 118 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: Apr 11, 1997, 1:07 AM CDT (06:07 UTC)
Expired: Apr 11, 1997, 3:05 AM CDT
In force: 118 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Wharton County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:08 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 204 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: 1820 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 508 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 201 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 9.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 110606
FFWHOU
TXC481-110805-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
107 AM CDT FRI APR 11 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 305 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

   ...WHARTON COUNTY
 
AT 103 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A NEARLY
STATIONARY AREA OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHING FROM
LOUISE TO WHARTON.  DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES RAINFALL TOTALS OF 1 TO 3
INCHES WITH ISOLATED AREAS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES OVER WHARTON COUNTY.
ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE.

INTERESTS AROUND MUSTANG CREEK SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING CONDITIONS AND RISING WATER AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS
CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. 

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLASH FLOODING. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...A*CT QUICKLY.
MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO
FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION
FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

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 Apr 10, 8:04 PM CDT, 5 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 10, 8:04 PM CDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
8 PM CDT THU APR 10 1997

SHORT WAVE CROSSING SOUTH TEXAS AT 00Z WILL MOVE THROUGH
SOUTHEAS TEXAS OVERNIGHT.  THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING SEVERE
INDICATION ON RADAR JUST WEST OF CWA...NOT SURPRIZED GIVEN CRP
SOUNDING.  EVEN SOME INDICATION OF WEAK ROTATION. NEED TO INCLUDE
TSTMS ALL ZONES THIS UPDATE.  ALSO MAY WANT TO ADD POSSIBLY
SEVERE...ESPECIALLY WESTERN HALF...NOTH SURE HOW FAR EAST INSTABILITY
WILL RIDE TONIGHT.  SHOULD BE A LULL FRIDAY MORNING TIL MID AFTERNOON
AS SHORT WAVE EXITS EAST AND MAIN TROUGH/FRONT APPROACH FROM WEST.
30

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 10, 10:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Matagorda	59 min
Apr 10, 11:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Wharton	65 min
Apr 11, 12:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Wharton	60 min
Apr 11, 1:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Wharton	65 min
Apr 11, 2:04 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Fort Bend	61 min
Apr 11, 2:28 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Fort Bend, Wharton	3 hr
Apr 11, 2:28 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria	62 min
Apr 11, 2:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Wharton	65 min
Apr 11, 2:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Fort Bend	62 min
Apr 11, 3:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Matagorda, Wharton	33 min
Apr 11, 3:59 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria	61 min
Apr 11, 4:08 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Brazoria	3 hr
Apr 11, 4:22 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Galveston	68 min
Apr 11, 5:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Matagorda	67 min
Apr 11, 5:26 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Galveston	64 min
Apr 11, 5:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris	63 min
Apr 11, 5:33 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Galveston	3 hr
Apr 11, 5:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria	60 min
Apr 11, 9:24 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Wharton	4 hr
Apr 11, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris	60 min
Apr 11, 4:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris, Montgomery	65 min
Apr 11, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Liberty	64 min
Apr 11, 5:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris	58 min
Apr 11, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	49 min
Apr 11, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Chambers	60 min
Apr 11, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris	32 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.