Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 12, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

January 31, 1998Bexar County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jan 31, 1998, 10:33 AM CST for Bexar County, Texas. It was in force for 117 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 31, 1998, 10:33 AM CST (16:33 UTC)
Expired: Jan 31, 1998, 12:30 PM CST
In force: 117 min
Issued by: NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Bexar County, TX

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:35 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 318 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 686 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSAT 311636 RRA
FFWSAT
TXC029-311830-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1033 AM CST SAT JAN 31 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...BEXAR COUNTY
 
RADAR INDICATED WIDESPREAD RAIN WITH EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH
CENTRAL TEXAS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL WERE MOVING
INTO BEXAR COUNTY FROM THE SOUTHWEST.
 
THIS RAIN WILL FALL ONTO AREAS WHERE A HALF..TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF
RAIN HAS FALLEN THIS MORNING.  THE RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY
AFTERNOON.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IMMINENT.
MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS BRIDGES...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY
TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT TO ESCAPE
RISING WATER DURING THREATENING RAINS.
 
FLOOD PRONE URBAN AREAS FILL WITH WATER QUICKLY.  CLOGGED STORM
DRAINS MAY CAUSE OTHER AREAS TO FLOOD.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS MEDIA FOR LATER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLEh WARNINGS.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 31, 5:13 AM CST, 5 hours 20 minutes before

TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-010000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
513 AM CST SAT JAN 31 1998

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY FOR THE HILL
COUNTRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTH TEXAS TODAY.  THIS
SYSTEM WILL INTERACT WITH THE UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE IN PLACE AND
TRIGGER SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.  SOME OF THE
STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL.

LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE TODAY.  RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL
AVERAGE AROUND 1/2 INCH WITH ISOLATED TOTALS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES
POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER STORMS.

NEARBY HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOKS INCLUDE:
FOR SOUTHWEST TEXAS...FROM MIDLAND...LBBSPSMAF
FOR THE CONCHO VALLEY...FROM SAN ANGELO...LBBSPSSJT
FOR NORTH TEXAS...FROM FORT WORTH...FTWSPSFTW
FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...FROM HOUSTON/GALVESTON...SATSPSHOU
FOR COASTAL BEND/RIO GRANDE PLAINS...FROM CORPUS CHRISTI...SATSPSCRP.

THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NORMALLY WILL BE UPDATED BY MEANS OF
THE ZONE FORECASTS...SHORT TERM FORECAST...WATCHES...WARNINGS AND
ADVISORIES.  THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK ITSELF WILL BE UPDATED
ONLY IF UNEXPECTED HAZARDOUS WEATHER DEVELOPS OR IF EXPECTED
HAZARDOUS WEATHER NO LONGER IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP.

ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:
HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/EWX

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 31, 5:02 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	EWX	Bandera	3 hr
Jan 31, 6:08 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Edwards	67 min
Jan 31, 6:20 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Real, Uvalde	55 min
Jan 31, 7:26 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	EWX	Uvalde	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.