Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Sacramento, CA

January 4, 1997Sutter County, California

NWS Sacramento, CA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 4, 1997, 6:49 PM PST for Sutter County, California. It was in force for 91 min. 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 4, 1997, 6:49 PM PST (02:49 UTC)
Expired
Jan 4, 1997, 8:20 PM PST
In force
91 min
Issued by
NWS Sacramento, CA
Area
Whole counties

County Sutter County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

Oakland, CA (KOAK), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 152 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 00:00Z on 1997-01-05Temperature 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, Oakland, CA at 00:00Z on 1997-01-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 7 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1164 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
55 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 KSAC 050256
FFWSAC
CAC101-101-050420-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
649 PM PST SAT JAN 4 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SACRAMENTO CA HAS ISSUED A FLASH
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 820 PM PST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

  ...WESTERN SUTTER COUNTY

...LEVEE BREAK ON SUTTER BYPASS...

SUTTER COUNTY OES HAS ORDERED A MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR RESIDENTS
RESIDING BETWEEN THE SUTTER BYPASS AND THE SACRAMENTO RIVER NORTH OF
TISDALE BYPASS. 

EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ARE DIRECTING PEOPLE LEAVING THE AREA TO TRAVEL
WEST ON RIVER ROAD...THEN NORTH ON MERIDAN ROAD.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.
 
MASTERS-BEVAN/MATTHEWS

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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jan 4, 2:41 PM PST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 4, 2:41 PM PST, 4 hours 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
830 AM SAT JAN 4 1997

SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS VORT MAX CONTINUING TO WEAKEN AS IT MOVES
SOUTHEAST INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. NO MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION
EXPECTED FROM THIS SYSTEM.  MOST ZONES WILL SEE CLEARING OF CLOUDS
LATE TONIGHT AS DRIER AIR ALOFT FILTERS IN. THOUGH NOT EARLY ENOUGH
FOR SIGNIFICANT FOG EVENT TO SET INTO VALLEY. MODELS ALL DIG TROF
INTO GREAT BASIN AND DEVELOP A NORTH TO SOUTH...OFF SHORE FLOW OVER
FORECAST AREA WITH MESO ETA SHOWING EARLIEST START ON SUNDAY NIGHT.
THUS HAVE NOT PUT FOG INTO MY FORECAST AFTER TOMORROW MORNING.  WILL
SEE WHAT ABUNDANT WATER IN AREA WILL DO TO THE FORECAST THOUGH.

WATER IN VALLEY RIVERS REMAINS HIGH WITH LEVEES FEELING THE STRAIN
WITH THE FOLLOWING WARNINGS/WATCHES IN EFFECT.

.SAC...FFA TNGT FOR SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
    ...SMALL RIVER AND STREAM FLOOD WRNG...TNGT...ZN19
    ...FLOOD WARNING...SACRAMENTO...SAN JO.AQUIN...CONSUMNES...FEATHER
    ...MOKELUMNE...TOULUMNE RIVERS AND YOLO BYPASS

EGGER

BLU EB 030/026 025/035 023 71220
RBL BB 032/054 030/055 030 71000
SAC BB 039/056 037/055 035 71000

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sacramento, CA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 4, 9:50 PM PSTFlash Flood WarningSTOSutter5 hr
Jan 5, 2:01 PM PSTFlash Flood WarningSTOSan Joaquin69 min

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.