Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 40, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 7, 1997Dawson County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 7, 1997, 4:03 AM CDT for Dawson County, Texas. It was in force for 117 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: Jul 7, 1997, 4:03 AM CDT (09:03 UTC)
Expired: Jul 7, 1997, 6:00 AM CDT
In force: 117 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Dawson County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:04 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 91 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: 639 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -122 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2409 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 070903
FFWMAF
TXC115-071100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
403 AM CDT MON JUL 7 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...CENTRAL AND WESTERN DAWSON COUNTY
 
MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF UP TO THREE
INCHES HAVE FALLEN ASSOCIATED WITH A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
THAT MOVED THROUGH WESTERN AND CENTRAL DAWSON COUNTY BETWEEN 330 AM
AND 400 AM THIS MONDAY MORNING.  FREQUENT LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY
WINDS AND SMALL HAIL ARE ALSO INDICATED WITH THESE STORMS.

THESE HEAVY RAINS HAVE FALLEN OVER GROUNDS ALREADY SATURATED WITH
RAINS FROM THUNDERSTORMS FROM PREVIOUS NIGHTS THIS PAST HOLIDAY
WEEKEND.  THESE HEAVY RAINS HAVE INCREASED THE RISK OF FLOODING
ACROSS HIGHWAYS...ESPECIALLY AREAS OF POOR DRAINAGE OR LOW LYING
AREAS.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS
SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
T

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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 7, 3:36 AM CDT, 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 7, 3:36 AM CDT, 27 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED SPELLING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
335 AM CDT (235 AM MDT) MON JUL 7 1997

STORMS CONTINUE TO PERSIST ACROSS THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN AND THE
TRANS-PECOS REGION OVERNIGHT.  THE BETTER ORGANIZED CLUSTER IS
CURRENTLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN.  ACTIVITY APPEARS
RELATED DUE TO A LOW LEVEL SOUTHERLY JET OF 30KT WITH NORTHWESTLY
FLOW ALOFT PRODUCING PERSIST LIS OF -6 PER ADAP.  MESO-ETA MODEL
SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THAT THESE TWO CLUSTERS SHOULD PERSIST FOR THE NEXT
2-3 HRS BEFORE WEAKENING...WITH THE AFFECTED COUNTIES UPDATED VIA
NOWCASTS.

NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT SHOULD PERSIST INTO MONDAY NIGHT AS UPPER
RIDGE REMAINS WEST OF THE AREA.  LATE AFTERNOON CONVECTION SHOULD
AGAIN RE-FIRE ALONG THE DRYLINE IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO/WEST
TEXAS WEST OF THE PECOS/DAVIS MOUNTIANS AND PROPOGATE SOUTHEASTWARD
DUE TO SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW AND NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT.
MESO-ETA FORECAST SOUNDING AT 21Z/7TH SIMILAR TO CURRENT CONDITIONS
BY SUGGESTING LIS OF -5...CAPES 1500-2000 J/KG AND A STRONG
THUNDERSTORM WIND PROFILE.

MAF  95/67  20/20
CNM  95/66  10/20
MRF  90/59  10/10
P07  95/73  10/10

FAGEN/GRIFFIN

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.