Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 42, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 8, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 8, 1997, 7:37 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 2 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
Jul 8, 1997, 7:37 PM MDT (01:37 UTC)
Expired
Jul 8, 1997, 10:00 PM MDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:39 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, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-07-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 9 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-07-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -12 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2950 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
40 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 KMAF 090138
FFWMAF
NMC025-090400-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
837 PM CDT (737 PM MDT) TUE JUL 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM MDT (1100 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY
 
AT 734 PM MDT... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR HAD ESTIMATED BETWEEN ONE AND
TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN NEAR HALFWAY.  THE COMPLEX OF
STORMS CAUSING THIS HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUES TO MOVE SLOWLY
EAST AT LESS THAN 10 MPH.  AN ADDITIONAL ONE TO TWO INCHES OF
RAINFALL IS LIKELY AS THIS AREA SPREADS EASTWARD.  MOTORISTS ALONG
HIGHWAY 176 SHOULD WATCH FOR WATER COVERING THE ROADWAY EAST OF
HALFWAY.

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.

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 8, 7:33 PM MDT, 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 8, 7:33 PM MDT, 4 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
833 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 1997

CURRENT FORECASTS LOOK ON TRACK... EXCEPT PRESENT CLOUD COVER TRENDS.

01Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER LA WITH
SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH WINDS OVER MUCH OF THE FA.  DEWPOINTS REMAIN
MOSTLY IN THE 50S AND 60S OVER THE REGION.  WV AND IR IMAGERY
SHOWING ABUNDANT HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS OVER MUCH OF THE AREA... MAINLY
CONVECTIVE DEBRIS.  THEREFORE... RECOMMEND CHANGING CLOUD COVER TO
REFLECT PRESENT TRENDS TO SOMETHING LIKE BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY
AFTER MIDNIGHT.  KMAF 88D REFLECTIVITY PRODUCT SHOWING A VERY SLOW
WEAKENING TREND WITH CONVECTION... ESPECIALLY OVER SE NM.  SUSPECT
MOST OF THE ACTIVITY WILL BE JUST ABOUT GONE BY MIDNIGHT.  HOWEVER...
CONVECTION OVER SE NM MAY LAST A LITTLE LONGER AS MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE CONTINUES IN THIS AREA AS DEPICTED ON LATEST ADAP DATA.

EARLE

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 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.