Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Hanford, CA

February 3, 1998Fresno County, California

NWS Hanford, CA issued this flash flood warning at Feb 3, 1998, 5:12 AM PST for Fresno County, California. 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: Feb 3, 1998, 5:12 AM PST (13:12 UTC)
Expired: Feb 3, 1998, 7:15 AM PST
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Hanford, CA
Area: Whole counties

County Fresno County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 12:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 238 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 853 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 28 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 KFAT 031313
FFWFAT
CAC019-031515-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
512 AM PST TUE FEB 3 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HANFORD HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 AM PST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  CALIFORNIA
 
   ...SOUTHWESTERN FRESNO COUNTY
 
AT 510 AM...DOPPER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN IN THE COALINGA AREA
AND ALONG HIGHWAY 33 TO THE SOUTH OF COALINGA...IN SOUTHWEST FRESNO
COUNTY. RAINFALL TOTALS OF OVER TWO INCHES IN AN HOUR HAS OCCURRED IN
THIS REGION LOCATED ABOUT 55 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FRESNO.
 
WHEN DRIVING DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS
IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY2. WHEN ON FOOT...NEVER TRY TO CROSS A
FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE.

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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Feb 3, 4:00 AM PST, 1 hour 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 3, 4:00 AM PST, 1 hour 12 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION  ...UPDATED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
400 AM PST TUE FEB 03 1998

HI WNDS IN SJV PORTION OF KERN COUNTY HV DECREASED SLIGHTLY DURG PAST
HR. WNDS HV ACTUALLY DECREASED ALL LOCS AS FNT/PCPN APPROACHES FM
WEST...AND WAS XPCTD. ONLY PLACE WHERE WINDS HV INCREASED IS IN TSP
MTNS BUT BELIEVE THEY WL RMN IN WAD CAT. WL XTND KERN MTNS WAD TIL 9 AM
THO AS FNT/S EWRD PROGRESS IS SLO. FF WATCH RMNS IN PLACE ALL LOCS XCPT
KERN DESERTS AS SLO MOVG BAND WILL DROP LARGE AMNTS OF PCPN TDA. FLO
ALF MOR SOUTHERLY TO SIERNV SO OROGRAPICS NOT THE BEST...WHICH IS A
GOOD THING. TSTRMS A POSS THIS AFTN AND SOME COULD BE APPROACHING SVR
LVLS. BUT CONDS NOT FAVORABLE FOR SVR AS FLO ALF...WHILE STRONGLY
CYCLONIC...WL HV DECRESED AS TROF AXIS PASSES OVRHD THIS AFTN. ALSO
COLDEST AMS ALF TO BE OVR SOUTHLAND AND MAIN VORT CNTRS TO THE N AND S
OF THE FA. MDLS DIFFR UPON ENDG TIME OF PCPN TONIGHT. AVN/NGM BRING
MORE SHWERS AND GOOD OMEGA OVR CNTRL SJV TONIGHT WHILE NOGAPS AND ETA
KP IT IN SAC VLY/N CA CST. AM LEANING ON THE LATTER TWO MODLS AND WL
END PCPN THIS EVE IN SJV AND OVRNIGHT...FOR THE MOST PART...IN MTNS.
BRIEF BREAK IN RAIN (READ PATCHY FG IN SJV) BUT ANOTHER STORM WL MOVE
IN OVERNIGHT THU NIGHT INTO FRI...BUT A LTL FARTHER TO THE N THAN CURR
ONE. THEN ONE MORE RAIN MAKER SUN.

WNDS HV DECR RAPIDLY IN KERN CTY PORTION OF SJV...WL DROP HWW BUT KEEP
IT IN TSP MTNST TIL 9 AM. ALSO ADDED URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADV
FOR CNTRL AND SRN SJV. DC

.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA ABOVE
       7000 FEET NORTH OF KERN COUNTY...ZONES 22/23.
    ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA NORTH OF KERN
       COUNTY BELOW 7000 FEET...THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THE
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY TODAY...ZONES
       20/21/22/23/24.
    ...URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT TODAY FOR THE
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...ZONES 20/21.
    ...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 AM THIS MORNING FOR THE KERN COUNTY
       MOUNTAINS...ZONE 24.

FAT RB 066/044 060/044 060 98+500
BFL RB 066/045 062/045 062 98+500
YNP RB 044/030 050/030 050 98+500

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 3, 10:30 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	HNX	Kern	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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.