Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 27, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

September 22, 1998Pecos County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Sep 22, 1998, 4:36 PM CDT for Pecos County, Texas. It was in force for 3 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
Sep 22, 1998, 4:36 PM CDT (21:36 UTC)
Expired
Sep 22, 1998, 7:30 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Pecos County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:37 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 139 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-09-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1118 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-09-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 71 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1592 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 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 KMAF 222136
FFWMAF
TXC371-230030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
436 PM CDT TUE SEP 22 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN PECOS COUNTY IN WESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 430 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THAT CLUSTERS OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE LOCATED
  OVER SOUTHERN PECOS COUNTY BETWEEN HIGHWAYS 385 AND 285...MOVING
  SLOWLY EAST.

* EXCESSIVE RAINFALL AT THE RATE OF 2 INCHES PER HOUR WILL PRODUCE
  FLOODING ACROSS AROUND BIG CANYON DRAW AND ACROSS HIGHWAY 285
  THROUGH 730 PM CDT.

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!

TJT/MEY

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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 22, 2:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 22, 2:33 PM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
232 PM CDT (132 PM MDT) TUE SEP 22 1998

LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY AND SURFACE ANALYSIS INDICATE THAT FRONT IS
LOCATED FROM MWL TO SJT TO SOUTH OF FST.  FRONT SHOULD BEGIN TO SLOW
UP AS DAYTIME HEATING AHEAD OF IT CONTINUES.  AT FIRST WAS NOT QUITE
SURE WHAT WAS SUSTAINING THE CONVECTION WHICH HAS BEEN OCCURING ALL
DAY OVER WESTERN COUNTIES OF THE CWA.  HOWEVER...PCGRIDDS DATA
INDICATED GOOD CONVERGENCE ALOFT (250MB) AND FAIRLY STEEP MID LEVEL
LAPSE RATES OVER THAT REGION.  AFTER THE 12Z INITIALIZATION OF THE
MODELS THEY ARE NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH THIS FEATURE.  THEY CONTINUE
TO TRY TO MOVE IT EAST...HOWEVER THE LINE OF CONVECTION HAS BEEN
NEARLY STATIONARY ALL DAY WITH INDIVIDUAL CELLS MOVING NORTHEAST UP
THE LINE.  HAVE CHECKED WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS IN JEFF DAVIS
COUNTY...THEY ARE INDICATING THAT THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH FLOODING
IN THEIR COUNTY.

ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS BEGINNING TO FIRE ALONG THE FRONTAL
BOUNDARY JUST NORTH AND NORTHWEST OF CROCKETT COUNTY AS OF 1915Z.
EXPECT THAT THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING
HOURS...ESPECIALLY IF WINDS BECOME SOUTHEASTERLY OVER THE AREA AS
INDICATED BY THE MODELS.  BIG QUESTION FOR TONIGHT IS HOW FAR
NORTH/NORTHEAST WILL THE FRONT RETREAT.  MY QUESS IS THAT FRONT WILL
REMAIN FAIRLY STATIONARY OVERNIGHT WITH OVERRUNNING CONDITIONS
SETTING UP...AND THEN BEGIN MOVING NORTHEAST TOMORROW.  FOR NOW I
WILL LEAN TOWARD THIS SCENARIO.

WILL USE A BLEND OF THE FAN/FWC GUIDANCE...HOWEVER WILL STICK WITH
PREVIOUS FORECAST TRENDS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO.

MAF 63/89 3/2
CNM 63/89 2/2
MRF 64/86 3/2
P07 72/90 2/2

PLM

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 22, 12:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 51 minutes before
NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-231100-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1245 PM CDT (1145 AM MDT) TUE SEP 22 1998

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   CULBERSON  GLASSCOCK   MARTIN    REAGAN   UPTON
BORDEN    DAWSON     HOWARD      MIDLAND   REEVES   WARD
BREWSTER  ECTOR      JEFF DAVIS  PECOS     SCURRY   WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES     LOVING      PRESIDIO  TERRELL

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

SYNOPSIS: SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA TODAY
AS A COLD FRONT SAGS SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE AREA.  THERE HAS BEEN SOME
PRECIPITATION THIS MORNING ALONG THE FRONT WHICH IS EXPECTED TO
BECOME THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.  IN ADDITION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WHICH DEVELOPED
OVERNIGHT IN THE TRANS-PECOS REGION WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE
AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING.

THESE STORMS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SEVERE LIMITS...ALTHOUGH THE
STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 50
MPH...SMALL HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

FOR THE WEST CENTRAL TEXAS OUTLOOK SEE PRODUCT LBBSPSSJT.

16

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 22, 2:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos51 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.