Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 50, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 25, 1997Harris County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at May 25, 1997, 12:37 AM CDT for Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 6 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 25, 1997, 12:37 AM CDT (05:37 UTC)
Expired
May 25, 1997, 6:45 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Harris County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:37 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, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 213 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 1997-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1974 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1997-05-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 95 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
1974 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
110 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 KHOU 250536
FFWHOU
TXC201-251145-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1237 AM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...HARRIS COUNTY
 
AT 1225 AM CDT...ALL SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAD CEASED
OVERNIGHT FOR HARRIS COUNTY. HOWEVER...SEVERAL BAYOUS AND CREEKS
REMAIN IN FLOOD EARLY THIS MORNING.  IN PARTICULAR...HALLS BAYOU
REMAINS BETWEEN 3 TO 4 FEET ABOVE BANK AT JENSEN ROAD. HALLS BAYOU
HAS CRESTED AND WILL BEGIN TO SLOWLY RECEDE. GARNERS BAYOU AT BELTWAY
8 IS ALSO NEAR 3 FEET ABOVE BANK AND HAS CRESTED AND SHOULD ALSO
BEGIN TO RECEDE.  GREENS BAYOU BELOW ITS CONFLUENCE WITH HALLS BAYOU
AT LEY ROAD WAS ALREADY WITHIN 1 FOOT OF BANKFULL AND WILL LIKELY
CONTINUE TO RISE TO 2 TO 3 FEET ABOVE BANK OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS
DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT WAS ENTERING GREENS FROM GARNERS AND
HALLS BAYOU'S. BELOW LEY'S ROAD ON GREENS BAYOU AT NORMANDY...OR NEAR
I-10...THE BAYOU WILL ALSO RISE TO OR JUST OVER BANKFULL LATER TONIGHT.
THESE BAYOU'S WILL ALL BE CLOSE OR BACK WITHIN BANK BY 6 AM SUNDAY
MORNING.
 
PERSONS IN THE FLOOD PLAIN OF THESE BAYOU'S SHOULD BE ALERT AND KEEP
AN EYE OUT FOR CHANGES IN WATER LEVELS.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS SOURCES FOR THE LATEST
INFORMATION ON THIS DANGEROUS FLOOD SITUATION.
 
 
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 May 24, 8:33 PM CDT, 4 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 8:33 PM CDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
832 PM CDT SAT MAY 24 1997

TSTMS THAT FIRED UP ALONG THE SEABREEZE AND THE OLD OUTFLOW BNDRY
WERE STILL AFFECTING THE CSTL COUNTIES AT THIS HR IN THE FA.  AFOS
GENERATED STABILITY INDICES INDICATED THAT THE AIR WAS STILL VERY
UNSTABLE ALONG THE CST...WITH THE LI AT -10 AT CRP AND THE PW/S
APRCHG 1.8 TO 2 INCHES.  THE LINE OF STRMS HAS SLOWED DOWN AND CAN
STILL XPC SOME TSTMS WITH HVY PRECIP THRU MIDNIGHT AT THE CST AND
ENDING BEFORE OR BY MIDNIGHT ONE MORE TIER OF COUNTIES INLAND FM THE
CST.  THE STG S/W THAT HAS BEEN A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO THESE TSTMS IS
FCST TO MOV NE OF THE FA LATER TONIGHT.  THIS CAN ALSO BE SEEN ON THE
H7 LVL THAT SHOWS A TROF MOVG THRU SETX BY 12Z.  THUS...CAN WORD THE
UPDATE AS SHRAS OR TSTMS ENDING.  WL STILL NEED TO KEEP IN THE HVY
PCPN AND ISOL SVR.  40

UPDATED PRELIMS...
CLL   E/E-B B/B 67/90 69/93 6222
IAH T-E/E-B B/B 70/B90 73/92 6222 (+R/SVR WX ENDING THIS EVE SRN PTNS)
GLS T-E/E-B B/B 74/84 75/86 2222 (+R/SVR WX ENDING BY MIDNIGHT)

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 9:35 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXHarris3 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.