Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 53, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 31, 1997Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 1997, 7:35 PM MDT for Eddy 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, 7:35 PM MDT (01:35 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1997, 10:30 PM MDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Eddy County, NM

The radar

The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 183 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 206 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 010136
FFWMAF
NMC015-010430-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
835 PM CDT (735 PM MDT) THU JUL 31 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...SOUTHEASTERN EDDY COUNTY
 
AT 735 PM MDT... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR HAD ESTIMATED 2 TO 3 INCHES
INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN OVER THE PAST 2 HOURS FROM 20 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF CARLSBAD TO NEAR HALFWAY OVER SOUTHEASTERN EDDY
COUNTY. THE STORMS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS HEAVY RAINFALL HAVE SHOWN
VERY LITTLE MOVEMENT OVER THE PAST HOUR. AS A RESULT... AN
ADDITIONAL ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH 930 PM.

PEOPLE DRIVING ALONG HIGHWAY 128 AND HIGHWAY 31 SHOULD WATCH FOR
WATER COVERING THE ROADWAY.

MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT
TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS InF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 6:40 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea3 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.