Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Buffalo, NY

January 8, 19984 counties in New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Jan 8, 1998, 9:45 PM EST for 4 counties in New York. It was in force for 8 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 8, 1998, 9:45 PM EST (02:45 UTC)
Expired: Jan 9, 1998, 6:00 AM EST
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Livingston County, NY, Monroe County, NY, Ontario County, NY, Wayne County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:47 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 415 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 111 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 KBUF 090253
FFWBUF
NYC011-037-045-049-051-055-069-073-075-117-121-091000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING...URBAN AND SMALL STREAM
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
945 PM EST THU JAN 8 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS EXTENDED THE FLOOD 
WARNING FOR URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING THROUGH 6 AM FRIDAY
MORNING FROM THE GENESEE VALLEY EASTWARD INCLUDING THE FINGER LAKES
REGION...

COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE:

...ORLEANS...GENESEE...WYOMING...MONROE...WAYNE
...LIVINGSTON...ONTARIO...NORTHERN CAYUGA...OSWEGO
...LEWIS...JEFFERSON...

RECORD RAINFALL OF 2.5 TO 4 INCHES SINCE LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON HAS 
CAUSED EXTENSIVE URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING ACROSS WESTERN AND 
CENTRAL NEW YORK...WITH NUMEROUS ROADS UNDERWATER AND CLOSED TO
TRAFFIC. WHILE THE STEADY HEAVY RAIN ENDED DURING THE EVENING
HOURS...SHOWERS CONTAINING AN ADDITIONAL HALF INCH OF RAIN ARE 
POSSIBLE DURING THE OVERNIGHT AND EARLY MORNING HOURS. THIS WILL 
AGGREVATE AN ALREADY DANGEROUS SITUATION ALONG MANY LOCAL CREEKS AND 
STREAMS. 

MANY CREEKS AND STREAMS FROM THE GENESEE VALLEY EAST ACROSS THE 
FINGER LAKES WILL REMAIN OUT OF THEIR BANKS OVERNIGHT CAUSING 
NUMEROUS ROAD CLOSURES. SOME HOMES WILL REMAIN THREATENED WITH
BASEMENT FLOODING A PROBLEM.

THE LARGER CREEKS IN THE BUFFALO AREA REMAIN UNDER A FLOOD WARNING 
AND THESE INCLUDE THE ELLICOTT AND TONAWANDA CREEKS.

MEANWHILE...MOST SMALLER CREEKS AND STREAMS OVER THE FAR WESTERN 
COUNTIES HAVE RETURNED TO WITHIN THEIR BANKS...ALTHOUGH LOWLAND 
FLOODING COULD STILL BE A PROBLEM THROUGH DAYBREAK. ADDITIONAL 
RAINFALL BY DAYBREAK SHOULD AGGREVATE THE SMALLER STREAMS ACROSS FAR 
WESTERN NEW YORK...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS 
A SECOND TIME.

REMEMBER A WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR IS OCCURRING. 
THOSE PERSONS WITH INTERESTS NEAR SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS OR IN LOW 
LYING AREAS SHOULD CONTINUE TO TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS IMMEDIATELY 
TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE 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.

AN UPDATED STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED BY 5AM FRIDAY MORNING.

RSH/BCL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 9:45 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego	8 hr
Jan 8, 9:45 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Cayuga	8 hr
Jan 8, 9:45 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming	8 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 1998 Every 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.