Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 62, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

June 18, 1997Brazoria County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 1997, 2:15 PM CDT for Brazoria 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: Jun 18, 1997, 2:15 PM CDT (19:15 UTC)
Expired: Jun 18, 1997, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Brazoria County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:18 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 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 240 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: 544 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 817 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.1
Supercell composite: -2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 181916
FFWHOU
TXC039-182215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
215 PM CDT WED JUN 18 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...SOUTHERN BRAZORIA COUNTY
 
AT 215 PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A NEARLY STATIONARY CLUSTER OF STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHERN BRAZORIA COUNTY STRETCHING FROM SAN LOUIS
PASS TO JUST SOUTH OF ANGLETON TO SARGEANT...INCLUDING THE FREEPORT AND
LAKE JACKSON AREA.
 
SPOTTER REPORTS 3.45 INCHES OF RAIN IN CLUTE SO FAR FROM THIS STORM.
BECAUSE THIS COMPLEX OF STORMS IS NEARLY STATIONARY AND SHOWS NO SIGN OF
WEAKENING AN ADDITIONAL 2 INCHES OR MORE OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE OVER THIS
ALREADY SATURATED AREA.  THIS WILL RESULT IN WIDESPREAD FLOODING OF
STREETS DUE TO PONDING OF WATER.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREASB 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 SHOULD
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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
930 AM CDT WED JUN 18 1997

AS PER PREV FCST DISCUSSION...AIR MASS REMAINS QUITE MOIST
...W/HI CAPES (1500 J/KG AND ABOVE) OVR RGN. REMNANTS OF
YESTERDAYS WEAK FNTL BOUNDARY EVIDENT OVR EXTREME NRN ZNS.
03Z MESO-ETA INDICATE LO LVL CONFLUENCE ZONE OVR FA LINGERING
OVR SE TX THRU THURSDAY MRNG. UPPER LVL IMPULSE MOVG ACRS TONITE
WL REINFORCE SHEAR ZONE OVR RGN PSBLY TRIGERRING ANOTHER ROUND
OF LATE EVE TO EARLY MRNG TSTMS...IF MESO ETA IS CORRECT.

MEANTIME...DAYTIME HEATING AND SEABREEZE WL BE SUFFICIENT TO
TRIGGER TSTMS OVR RGN...SO 1ST PD NUMBERS LOOKS OK. 1ST THOUGHTS...
37

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 18, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria	45 min
Jun 18, 2:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Matagorda	34 min
Jun 18, 3:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Matagorda	40 min
Jun 18, 3:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Jackson	49 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.