Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 44, 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, 9:10 AM PST for Monterey County, San Benito County, California. It was in force for 2 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, 9:10 AM PST (17:10 UTC)
Expired: Jan 26, 1997, 11:30 AM PST
In force: 2 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 17:13 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, 5.2 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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 261712
FFWSFO
CAC053-069-261930-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
910 AM PST SUN JAN 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN FRANCISCO HAS CONTINUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 AM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
 
   ...MONTEREY COUNTY...SAN BENITO COUNTY
 
AT 9 AM RADAR AND SATELLITE IMAGERY ARE STILL INDICATING HEAVY RAIN
IN NORTHERN MONTEREY AND SAN BENITO COUNTIES. THIS ACTIVITY IS MOVING
EAST BUT RESIDUAL EFFECTS FROM THE HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE EXPECTED TO
LAST UNTIL ABOUT 1130 AM. THIS WILL INCLUDE FLOODING OF CREEKS AND
STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AS WELL AS MUD AND ROCK SLIDES.

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.
 
JAN NULL
LEAD FORECASTER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 26, 6:32 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	MTR	Monterey, San Benito	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 1997 Every 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.