Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA

January 1, 1997Monterey County, California

NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 1, 1997, 11:30 AM PST for Monterey County, California. It was in force for 5 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
Jan 1, 1997, 11:30 AM PST (19:30 UTC)
Expired
Jan 1, 1997, 4:00 PM PST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Area
Whole counties

County Monterey County, CA

The radar

The San Francisco radar (KMUX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:31 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

Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 183 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, Vandenberg AFB, CA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Vandenberg AFB, CA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 222 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
633 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
328 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 KSFO 011936
FFWSFO
CAC053-020030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
1130 AM PST WED JAN 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN FRANCISCO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
 
   ...WESTERN MONTEREY COUNTY...
 
BANDS OF HEAVY PRECIPITATION WERE MOVING INTO MONTEREY COUNTY LATE
WEDNESDAY MORNING...DROPPING OVER A HALF INCH OF RAIN PER HOUR AT
SOME LOCATIONS IN THE SANTA LUCIA RANGE. IN THE PAST THREE HOURS
MINING RIDGE HAS RECEIVED 1.1 INCHES AND CHEWS RIDGE 1.8 INCHES.
RADAR AND SATELLITE INDICATE THAT PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL
CONTINUE OVER MONTEREY COUNTY WELL INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS.
 
AT 1100 AM THE BIG SUR RIVER NEAR BIG SUR WAS AT 8.75 FEET
WHICH IS 1.25 FEET BELOW BANKFULL AND IS RISING SLOWLY.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT.  IT'S
IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO STREAMS...RIVERS...OR
CREEKS WHICH CAN BECOME KILLERS IN HEAVY RAINS.  CAMPERS SHOULD
AVOID CAMPING ALONG STREAMS OR CREEKS DURING THREATENING RAINS.
 
DYKEMA

The office that day

Everything else NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 1, 1:20 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz6 hr
Jan 1, 2:42 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRNapa6 hr
Jan 1, 7:18 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRAlameda, Contra Costa3 hr
Jan 1, 7:31 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz4 hr
Jan 1, 8:25 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSonoma4 hr
Jan 1, 8:25 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRMarin4 hr
Jan 1, 8:25 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRNapa4 hr
Jan 1, 9:00 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRMonterey3 hr
Jan 1, 9:00 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRAlameda, Contra Costa3 hr
Jan 1, 9:00 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz3 hr
Jan 1, 10:40 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz3 hr
Jan 1, 10:40 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRAlameda, Contra Costa3 hr
Jan 1, 10:40 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRMarin, Napa, Sonoma3 hr
Jan 1, 2:15 PM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo, Santa Cruz2 hr
Jan 1, 3:55 PM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRMonterey, Santa Cruz3 hr
Jan 1, 3:55 PM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRSan Mateo3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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.