Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 62, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 12, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Aug 12, 1997, 7:02 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
Aug 12, 1997, 7:02 PM MDT (01:02 UTC)
Expired
Aug 12, 1997, 10:05 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 01:04 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, 1.0 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 1997-08-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 336 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 1997-08-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -25 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
336 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-116 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2316 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
10 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 130104
FFWMAF
NMC025-130405-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
802 PM CDT (702 PM MDT) TUE AUG 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1005 PM MDT (1105 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...LEA COUNTY

DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT OVER LEA
COUNTY AND MOVING INTO LEA COUNTY FROM THE SOUTHWEST. EXPECT
LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OF TWO INCHES OF RAIN...ON ALREADY SATURATED
GROUND AND OVER RUNNING CREEKS...STREAMS AND ARROYOES.
 
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.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE ThOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED
QUICKLY.  MOVE 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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 12, 12:40 PM MDT, 6 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 12:40 PM MDT, 6 hours 22 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
139 PM CDT TUE AUG 12 1997

18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS STALLED COLD FRONT OVER SOUTH PLAINS WITH
VARIABLE WINDS OVER MUCH OF THE CWA.  DEWPOINTS REMAIN IN THE 60S
EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS.  WV IMAGERY SHOWING SHEAR AXIS CONTINUING
OVER OUR NORTHERN PORTIONS WITH VISIBLE SHOWING ABUNDANT MID LEVEL
CLOUDS AS A RESULT OF ENHANCED LIFT.  KMAF 88D REFLECTIVITY SHOWING
WIDELY SCATTERED STORMS OVER THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS BUT NOT NEAR THE
COVERAGE OF YESTERDAY.

MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT NEXT 36 TO 48 HOURS WITH UPPER HIGH
CONTINUING OVER THE FA.  LITTLE IF ANY UPWARD MOTION OVER THE FA
AS DYNAMICS REMAIN WELL NORTH.  WITH THIS IN MIND WILL KEEP WIDELY
SCATTERED POPS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND VICINITY.  HOWEVER... MAY SEE
AN ISOLATED STORM THIS EVENING IN VICINITY OF AFOREMENTIONED SHEAR
AXIS AND STALLED FRONT BUT MID CLOUDS HAVE CUT OUT SOME NEEDED
INSOLATION AND CAP REMAINS FAIRLY STRONG ATTM.  ELSEWHERE... CAP
SHOULD HOLD STRONG.  ALSO... AFOREMENTIONED STATIONARY FRONT MAY
BRUSH OUR NORTHERN PORTIONS BEFORE WASHING OUT TONIGHT/TOMORROW BUT
SHOULD MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE.

WILL STICK CLOSE TO PERSISTENCE AND WARMER MOS GUIDANCE THIS GO
AROUND AS AVN/ETA SEEM A LITTLE TOO COOL.

MAF  71/95 1-
CNM  70/97 21
MRF  61/87 21
P07  74/93 00

EARLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 12, 7:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea66 min
Aug 12, 8:09 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy2 hr
Aug 12, 10:10 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy, Lea3 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.