Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997
Flash Flood Warning 63, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jun 21, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT for Colorado County, Jackson County, Wharton 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 21, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT (21:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 21, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Colorado County, TX, Jackson County, TX, Wharton County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:30 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 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 194 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
- 3868 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 570 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 69 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 73 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 212133 FFWHOU TXC089-481-239-220030- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 430 PM CDT SAT JUN 21 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...SOUTHERN COLORADO COUNTY...NORTHERN WHARTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...JACKSON COUNTY AT 430 PM...RADAR INDICATES THAT A BAND OF HEAVY RAINFALL HAS OCCURRED ALONG THE COLORADO-WHARTON COUNTY LINE AND ALONG THE JACKSON-LAVACA COUNTY LINE. RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF GREATER THAN 5 INCHES ARE PREVALENT ACROSS THE AREA. AN ADDITIONAL 3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS VERY HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS THIS SAME AREA. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION...AND ALL PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY! THIS IS A DANGEROUS FLOOD SITUATION. MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR UNDERPASSES. NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT. TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP 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 21, 2:59 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 2:59 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 255 PM CDT SAT JUN 21 1997 WILL GO WITH FLASH FLOOD WATCH WEST OF MADISONVILLE...CLEVELAND... HOUSTON...FREEPORT LINE. OUTFLOW FROM MCS SETTING UP NE-SW BOUNDARY ACROSS FA FOR TONIGHT. MESOETA SHOWS POTENT INFLOW OF MOISTURE RICH AIR THRU SUNDAY AS SYNOPTIC UPPER FEATURES STAY VIRTUALLY STATIONARY. M-CLASS SOUNDING TAKEN AT HGX AT 18Z SHOWED SIGNIFICANT DEEPENING OF MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER CONSISTENT WITH MODEL FORECAST. WOULD EXPECT SOME AREAS TO RECEIVE IN EXCESS OF 5 INCHES OF RAINFALL OVERNIGHT. THREAT COULD CONTINUE INTO MONDAY DEPENDING ON WHERE BOUNDARIES END UP FROM ONGOING CONVECTION. CLL...69/82/70/85 90/60/40/40 IAH...75/86/75/88 70/60/40/40 GLS...79/84/79/85 40/50/40/40 PSX...78/84/79/85 80/60/40/40 30
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 21, 5:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Wharton | 53 min |
| Jun 21, 6:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Austin, Fort Bend | 61 min |
| Jun 21, 6:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Brazoria, Matagorda | 55 min |
| Jun 21, 6:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Harris, Waller | 57 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.