Alert archive / Oregon / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 38, NWS Pendleton, OR

July 29, 19974 counties in Oregon

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this flash flood warning at Jul 29, 1997, 4:19 PM PDT for 4 counties in Oregon. 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 29, 1997, 4:19 PM PDT (23:19 UTC)
Expired
Jul 29, 1997, 7:15 PM PDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Pendleton, OR
Area
Whole counties

Counties Crook County, OR, Jefferson County, OR, Wasco County, OR, Wheeler County, OR

The radar

The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 183 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:19 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

Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 185 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, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 12:00Z on 1997-07-29Temperature 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, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 12:00Z on 1997-07-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -32 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
895 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-18 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 KPDT 292323
FFWPDT
ORC013-031-065-069-300215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
419 PM PDT TUE JUL 29 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM PDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL OREGON
 
   ...CROOK COUNTY...EASTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL OREGON
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN WASCO COUNTY...WHEELER COUNTY
 
AT 420 PM...A WEATHER SPOTTER IN PRINEVILLE REPORTED ONE INCH OF RAIN IN
20 MINUTES. DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW THUNDERSTORMS
WITH HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL OREGON AND THE OCHOCO MOUNTAINS.
 
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.
 
 
 
&

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 29, 2:22 PM PDT, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 2:22 PM PDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
215 PM PDT TUE JUL 29 1997

CONVECTION ACROSS S CWFA ATTM.  STRONGEST STORMS ALONG CLD SHIELD
IN SE/SCNTRL ORE.  KMAX 88D 1-HR PCPN ESTIMATE 1.3 INCH SRN
DESCHUTES CNTY.  BELIEVE SOME OF THE ESTIMATE IS HAIL CONTAMINATION
BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR FLASH FLOODING.

12Z MODELS DO NOT DO A GOOD JOB WITH VORT CNTR OVR N CA.  ETA
CLOSEST OF THE THREE BUT EVEN IT WAS TO FAR N WITH CNTR VALID AT
18Z.  SLOWER TIMING OF CIRCULATION IS BEST.  VORT CNTR SHOULD
FINALLY EJECT TO ID PANHANDLE WED AFTN.  WARMER WED BECAUSE OF SUN
BUT UNSTABLE AGAIN.  ENOUGH RESIUAL MSTR WILL REMAIN E SIDE FOR
ANOTHER FUN TS DAY.  THU DRYING BUT STILL WK VORT RIPPLES AND SLY
FLO FOR MORE CONVECTION E SIDE.

EXTDD...L/WV TROF DOESN'T SEEM TO WANT TO MOVE INLAND.  FLO
OSCILLATES FROM SLY TO SWLY WITH S/WVS IN FLO.  PDXWRKSFP LOOKS
GOOD.  SB

PDT 6431  ALW\ 6431  PSC 5221  YKM 4211

.KPDT...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...NONE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pendleton, OR issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 28, 5:07 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTDeschutes53 min
Jul 28, 5:51 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTCrook54 min
Jul 29, 3:38 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTCrook, Jefferson67 min
Jul 29, 3:57 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningPDTGrant, Wheeler2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Oregon, 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.