Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 43, NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA

January 26, 1997Monterey County, San Benito County, California

NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 26, 1997, 6:32 AM PST for Monterey County, San Benito County, California. 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
Jan 26, 1997, 6:32 AM PST (14:32 UTC)
Expired
Jan 26, 1997, 9:30 AM PST
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Monterey County, CA, San Benito County, CA

The radar

The San Francisco radar (KMUX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:35 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

Oakland, CA (KOAK), launched 12:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 171 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, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 157 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 157 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
157 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
157 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSFO 261433
FFWSFO
CAC053-069-261730-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
632 AM PST SUN JAN 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN FRANCISCO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 AM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
 
   ...MONTEREY COUNTY...SAN BENITO COUNTY
 
AT 630 AM PST RADAR INDICATED A BAND OF HEAVY RAIN ACROSS NORTHERN
MONTEREY AND SAN BENITO COUNTIES. THIS RAIN WILL GRADUALLY MOVE
SOUTH OVER THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF BOTH COUNTIES BY 730 AM.  RAIN HAS
BEEN FALLING AT THE RATE OF ONE HALF TO ONE INCH AN HOUR IN THE
AREAS OF HEAVIEST RAIN.
 
MUDSLIDES ARE LIKELY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA THIS MORNING...AND THERE
WILL BE EXTENSIVE STREET FLOODING IN URBAN AREAS.  SMALL STREAMS WILL
RISE QUICKLY AND MAY OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS...BUT LARGER RIVERS ARE NOT
EXPECTED TO FLOOD.  THESE INCLUDE THE CARMEL AND BIG SUR RIVERS.
 
CITIES WITHIN THE WARNING AREA INCLUDE MONTEREY...SALINAS...HOLLISTER
...CASTROVILLE...PRUNEDALE...AND MARINA.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
MARKKANEN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 26, 9:10 AM PSTFlash Flood WarningMTRMonterey, San Benito2 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.