Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 22, NWS Burlington, VT

March 28, 1998Clinton County, New York

NWS Burlington, VT issued this flash flood warning at Mar 28, 1998, 3:59 PM EST for Clinton County, New York. It was in force for 12 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
Mar 28, 1998, 3:59 PM EST (20:59 UTC)
Expired
Mar 29, 1998, 4:00 AM EST
In force
12 hr
Issued by
NWS Burlington, VT
Area
Whole counties

County Clinton County, NY

The radar

The Burlington radar (KCXX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:57 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

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 229 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-03-28Temperature 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-03-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 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
1716 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
114 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 KBTV 282101
FFWBTV
NYC019-290900-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
359 PM EST SAT MAR 28 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BURLINGTON VT HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH NEW YORK
 
   ...CLINTON COUNTY
 
AT 350 PM...THE GREAT CHAZY WAS OUT OF ITS BANKS. AT THIS TIME ALL
REPORTS INDICATE FLOODING HAS SO FAR BEEN CONFINED TO LOW LYING FIELDS.
CULVERTS ARE REPORTEDLY FULL AND RUNNING FAST. THE GAGE AT PERRY MILLS
INDICATE THE RIVER LEVEL THERE HAS JUMPED MORE THAN A FOOT IN THE LAST
HALF HOUR. THIS IS LIKELY DUE TO AN ICE JAM.
 
THE RIVER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO RISE THROUGH THE NIGHT AS SNOWMELT
CONTINUES TO FILL THE RIVER. IN ADDITION...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
WILL BE SCATTERED ABOUT LATER TONIGHT...INCREASING THE RUNOFF INTO THE
RIVER.
 
SOME OF THE TOWNS ALONG AND NEAR THIS RIVER INCLUDE ALTONA...MOOERS AND
CHAMPLAIN NEW YORK. SOME OF THE MAJOR THOROUGHWAYS THAT RUN ALONG OR
NEAR THIS RIVER AND COULD POTENTIALLY BE IMPACTED INCLUDE STATE ROUTE 9
...11 AND 22 AND ROUTE 190 AND 191.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO
FLOODING.
 
DIGIORGI
 
&

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 Burlington, VT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Mar 28, 1:59 PM EST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 28, 1:59 PM EST, 2 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
200 PM AM EST SAT MAR 28 1998

SW H8 JET OF 60+ KNOTS AHEAD OF VORTICITY MAXIMA. ETA BRINGS
STRONGEST LOW LEVEL WINDS ACROSS FORECAST AREA 01 TO 09Z. BEST
MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND EHI FIRST PART OF TONIGHT...BUT WILL
MOISTURE BE SUFFICIENT AT THAT TIME?

ETA INDICATES MID LEVEL INVERSION ERODES AND CAPES JUMP TO BETWEEN
500 AND 800 J/KG. HOWEVER...INSTABILITY LARGELY IN MID LEVELS AND SO
CONVECTION MAY BE ELEVATED. THIS MAY KEEP STRONG/SEVERE WINDS FROM
REACHING SURFACE. WET BULB ZERO HEIGHTS VERY LOW.

MISSING INGREDIENT MAY BE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE. UPSTREAM DEWPOINTS NO
HIGHER THAN LOWER 50S. CONVECTION STILL WELL WEST AND JUST BEGINNING
TO CROSS LAKE ERIE. MAY BE ONLY SCATTERED SHOWERS THAT HANG TOGETHER
AND MOVE ACROSS FORECAST AREA DURING THE LATE NIGHT AS MAIN FORCING
MOVES NORTH OF CANADIAN BORDER.

KIND OF A PRECARIOOUS SITUATION IN THE NORTH COUNTRY. SNOWMELT HAS
RAISED RIVERS TO NEAR BANKFULL. CHAZY HAS RISEN TO JUST OVER
BANKFULL. AT THIS TIME...SCATTERED QUARTER INCH RAINS AT BEST
OVERNIGHT SHOULD NOT BE ENOUGH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

AT THIS TIME AM INCLINED TO KEEP FLOOD WATCHES UP WHERE THEY ARE
(AND ONLY SINCE THEY ARE ALREAADY IN PLACE AND FLOODING CAN NOT BE
RULED OUT)...BUT NOT EXTEND THEM IN TIME OR SPACE.

SNOWMELT WILL CONTINUE ON SUNDAY...TEMPERATURES ABOUT 10 DEGREES
COLDER AS COLD FRONT EDGES THROUGH REGION LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY
MORNING AND THEN STALLS BEFORE MOVING BACK NORTHWARD AS A WARM FRONT
SUNDAY NIGHT AND ON MONDAY.

BRIEF RIDGING LATER SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. ANOTHER LOW MOVING INTO
QUEBEC ON MONDAY WITH ANOTHER SURGE OF WARM AIR AHEAD OF IT. THIS
WILL BRING ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT.

FORECAST SUGGESTIONS...

TONIGHT...INCREASING CLOUDINESS WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
PERHAPS A RUMBLE OF THUNDER. LOW 50 TO 55 (55 TO 60 CHAMPLAIN).
SOUTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH (BREEZY SOUTH WIND 15 TO 25
CHAMPLAIN/SOUTHWEST 15 TO 25 ST LAWRENCE).

SUNDAY...A MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS. COOLER...HIGH AROUND 60 (60 TO 65
CHAMPLAIN AND ST LAWRENCE/MID 60S S VT). SOUTHWEST TO WEST WIND 5 TO
15 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW IN THE 40S.

MONDAY...A MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS...CLOUDING UP DURING THE AFTERNOON
WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS (LATE IN DAY E FA).
HIGH 65 TO 70.

DIGIORGI

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 1998Every flash flood warning in 1998

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.