Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 52, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 31, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 1997, 6:40 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. 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
Jul 31, 1997, 6:40 PM MDT (00:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1997, 10:00 PM MDT
In force
3 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 00:41 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, 0.7 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 1997-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 274 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 1997-08-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 22 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
274 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2127 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 31, 1:27 PM MDT, 5 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 1:27 PM MDT, 5 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
226 PM CDT THU JUL 31 1997

LATEST SATELLITE LOOP INDICATES MCS DISSIPATING IN NE NEW MEXICO.
OUTFLOW FROM THE ACTIVITY IS PUSHING ACROSS THE TEXAS HIGH PLAINS
ATTM. THIS BOUNDARY WILL PROVIDE A LOW-LEVEL FOCUS FOR POPS OVER THE
NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS IT INTERACTS WITH THE SURFACE EASTERLY FLOW.
MOSTLY EASTERLY WINDS CONTINUE AT THE SURFACE THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE
FA WITH LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS DOMINATING THE MOUNTAIN AREAS.
LATEST KMAF WSR-88D DATA SHOWS TSRA ACTIVITY DEVELOPING IN SOUTHEAST
NEW MEXICO IN RESPONSE TO MCS OUTFLOW AND IN THE MOUNTAIN AREAS TO
THE SOUTHWEST.

MODELS CONTINUE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE THROUGH 48 HOURS. AT THE LOWER
LEVELS...MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW INTO THE FA AS EASTERLY FLOW
ALSO CONTINUES. SURFACE DEWPOINTS REMAIN IN THE 60S ACROSS MOST OF
THE FA THROUGH 48 HOURS AS THETA-E RIDGE PERSISTS. WITH EASTERLY FLOW
CONTINUING ACROSS MOST OF FA THROUGH 48 HOURS...UPSLOPE FLOW WILL
ENHANCE POPS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE WESTERN FA.

BELIEVE ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED POPS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE
FA THROUGH ALL FOUR PERIODS. HIGHER POPS POSSIBLE
ACROSS THE NORTHERN FA AS THE MCS OUTFLOW MOVES ACROSS
THIS AREA. ALTHOUGH...WITH NO SURFACE BOUNDARY TO ACT AS A
FOCUS...POPS EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE ISOLATED FOR THE SECOND
PERIOD AND BEYOND.

BELIEVE GUIDANCE NUMBERS LOW. WITH LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE
PERSISTING...BELIEVE NUMBERS CLOSER TO PERSISTENCE BEST FOR FIRST
TWO PERIODS.

MAF 71/96 20/10
CNM 72/99 20/10
MRF 61/86 10/10
P07 74/95 10/10

HUBER/BRITE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 7:35 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy3 hr

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.