Alert archive / Indiana / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 34, NWS Northern Indiana

August 5, 1998Elkhart County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this flash flood warning at Aug 5, 1998, 10:37 PM EST for Elkhart County, Indiana. It was in force for 6 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 5, 1998, 10:37 PM EST (03:37 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1998, 4:40 AM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
NWS Northern Indiana
Area
Whole counties

County Elkhart County, IN

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:39 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

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 236 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, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1998-08-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 148 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1998-08-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 76 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
148 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
458 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 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 KFWA 060339 COR
FFWFWA
INC039-060940-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
1037 PM EST WED AUG 5 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS REISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
  ALL OF ELKHART COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA

* UNTIL 440 AM EST

* AT 1030 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM FROM ROCHESTER
  NORTHEAST TO MIDDLEBURY... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* VERY HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUED ACROSS MUCH OF ELKHART COUNTY LATE
  THIS EVENING.  THE GOSHEN AIRPORT REPORTED 2 INCHES OF RAIN OVER
  THE LAST 2 HOURS.  DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 2 TO AS MUCH AS 5
  INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN FROM NAPANEE TO GOSHEN TO MIDDLEBURY.
  ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL IS LIKELY THROUGH MIDNIGHT WITH 1 TO 3
  MORE INCHES POSSIBLE. MANY AREAS OF MIDDLEBURY ARE CURRENTLY
  FLOODED WITH SANDBAGGING EFFORTS UNDERWAY.

* PERSONS ALONG THE LITTLE ELKHART RIVER... THE ELKHART RIVER AND
  PINE CREEK SHOULD BE PREPARED TO SEEK HIGHER GROUND.  MOTORISTS
  SHOULD ALSO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR FLOODED OR WASHED OUT ROADWAYS.

MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  IF CAUGHT IN RAPIDLY
RISING WATER... ABANDON YOUR VEHICLE AND SEEK HIGHER GROUND!

TEH

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 Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 5, 8:05 PM EST, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 8:05 PM EST, 2 hours 32 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
805 PM EST WED AUG 5 1998

00Z SFC ANALYSIS...SATELITTE AND COMPOSITE RADAR SHOWING WARM FRONT
ON THE MOVE THIS PM FROM ABOUT ORD TO NR FDY.  GOOD CONVERGENCE
THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS BNDRY HAS REALLY FOCUSED HVY RAIN ACRS NW
OH WITH SIGNIFICANT FLASH FLOOD IN PROGRESS ACRS PAULDING AND
PUTNAM COUNTIES. WITH FRONT CONTINUING TO LIFT NORTHWARD... LOOKS
LIKE AT LEAST A BRIEF RESPITE IN STORE BEFORE UPR SW TROF AXIS
ROTATING AROUND UPR LOW BACK IN IA MOVES THROUGH. CLD TOPS BACK
ACRS E IL CONTINUE TO COOL ON IR SO XPC AT LEAST ADDITIONAL MODERATE
RAINFALL TO MOVE BACK INTO FA AFTER 1000 PM.  DONT BELIEVE WE WILL
SEE AN DIURNAL DECREASE IN ACTIVITY TONIGHT LIKE LAST NIGHT WITH
APPROACH OF UPR SW TROF AND 250MB JET STREAK SWINGING UP OUT OF MO.
THANKS TO CLE FOR COORD CALL ON NEEDED FFA FOR NW OH.

NO UPDATE PLANNED AS CURRENT ZONES RIGHT ON TRACK.

.IWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH OVERNIGHT FOR PART OF NE IN AND NW OH.

TEH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Northern Indiana issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 5, 7:22 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningIWXElkhart3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Indiana, 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.