Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 35, NWS Las Vegas, NV

August 10, 1997Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Aug 10, 1997, 5:09 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. 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: Aug 10, 1997, 5:09 PM MST (00:09 UTC)
Expired: Aug 10, 1997, 7:15 PM MST
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

The radar

The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:12 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

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 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-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: 147 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1399 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLAS 110011
FFWLAS
AZC015-110215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
509 PM PDT (509 PM MST) SUN AUG 10 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM PDT (715 PM MST)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN NORTHWEST ARIZONA
 
   ...NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND SATELITTE IMAGERY
INDICATE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN CONTINUING OVER
NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY.  THOSE ESPECIALLY TRAVELLING ALONG I-15
ALONG THE VIRGIN VALLEY RIVER AREA SHOULD TAKEN ALL PRECAUTIONS
RIGHT NOW.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS
FLOODED ROADWAYS.
 
RADAR AND SATELLITE RAINFALL ESTIMATIONS ARE BETWEEN 3 TO 6 INCHES
AN HOUR FOR NORTHERN MOHAHVE COUNTY.  THOSE IN THE TOWNS OF
LITTLEFIELD...COLORADO CITY AND NEAR THE PIPE SPRING NATIONAL
MONUMENT...AND THOSE TRAVELLING ALONG INTERSTATE 15 BETWEEN
LITTLEFIELD ARIZONA AND ST GEORGE UTAH SHOULD REMAIN ABREAST
OF THIS WEATHER SITUATION.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNIN,G...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
CORDERO

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 10, 2:10 PM MST, 2 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 2:10 PM MST, 2 hours 59 minutes before

MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
210 PM PDT SUN AUG 10 1997

NO TIME FOR DISCUSSION WITH LOTS OF SEVERE WEATHER AND FLASH
FLOODING OCCURRING ATTM OVER EXTREME SRN NV/NW AZ.  WILL CONTINUE
WITH PREVIOUS TREND OF IMPROVING CONDS NEXT FEW DAYS.
LAS 4000.  KOSIER

SRN NV...NONE
ERN CA...NONE
NW AZ ...NONE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 10, 5:09 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Mohave	2 hr
Aug 10, 7:36 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Mohave	3 hr
Aug 10, 7:36 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Mohave	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 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.