Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 22, NWS Sacramento, CA

August 14, 1998El Dorado County, California

NWS Sacramento, CA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 14, 1998, 3:09 PM PDT for El Dorado 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
Aug 14, 1998, 3:09 PM PDT (22:09 UTC)
Expired
Aug 14, 1998, 5:10 PM PDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Sacramento, CA
Area
Whole counties

County El Dorado County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

Oakland, CA (KOAK), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 187 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, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1998-08-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1998-08-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 17 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1659 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
41 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 KSAC 142210
FFWSAC
CAC003-005-009-017-109-150010-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
309 PM PDT FRI AUG 14 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SACRAMENTO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  EAST CENTRAL EL DORADO COUNTY IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
  EXTREME EASTERN AMADOR COUNTY IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
  WESTERN ALPINE COUNTY IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
  EXTREME EASTERN CALAVERAS COUNTY IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
  NORTHEASTERN TUOLUMNE COUNTY IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

* UNTIL 510 PM PDT

* SINCE 130 PM PDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR HAS
  INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN ALONG AND JUST WEST OF THE SIERRA NEVADA
  CREST FROM EAST-CENTRAL EL DORADO COUNTY SOUTH TO NORTHEASTERN
  TUOLUMNE COUNTY...STORMS ARE SHOWING LITTLE MOVEMENT.

* PERSISTANT HEAVY RAINS IN THIS AREA FOR OVER THE PAST HOUR WILL
  LIKELY PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING OF CREEKS IN THE WARNING AREA. IN
  ADDITION HIGHWAYS 88...4.V..AND 108 MAY BE AFFECTED BY ROCKSLIDES
  AND HIGH WATER.

MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN.

DFR

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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 14, 3:01 PM PDT, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 3:01 PM PDT, 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
300 PM FRI AUG 14 1998

VISIBLE ELEMENTS OF MONSOON MOISTURE FROM BAY AREA AND THEN SEWD
ACROSS NRN SAN JQN VLY AND OVER SIERRA ARE SLOWLY MOVING NORTHWARD...
BUT ARE ERODING AS THEY MOVE NWD OVER THE COASTAL RANGE N OF THE BAY
AREA AND OVER THE VALLEY INDICATING MORE STABLE AIR IN THAT PART OF
THE STATE. BUT NUMEROUS TRWS OVER SIERNEV WHERE AIR MASS IS MORE
MOIST AND VERY UNSTABLE DUE TO HEATING. SLY FLOW AROUND THE UT HIGH
FCST TO ADVECT MOISTURE NWD INTO SAT. THUS HIGH K-INDICIES FCST FOR
THE NERN ZONES OF CA ON SAT AND A STRONG 7H THETA-E GRADIENT TO KEEP
CHANCE OF TRWS FOR NERN ZONES AS WELL AS OVER THE SIERRA. BY LATE IN
THE DAY ON SAT...5H FLOW WILL BECOME WSWLY OVER NORCAL AS THE ERN PAC
TROF AXIS MOVES CLOSER TO THE CST. THIS WILL INHIBIT TRWS IN OUR WRN
ZONES ON SAT AND KEEP THEM CONFINED TO THE CREST OVER THE SIERRA.

MARINE LAYER DEEPENED SLIGHTLY OVERNITE AND SHOULD CONTINUE TO DEEPEN
AHEAD OF THE TROF ON SAT. THE DELTA TRICKLE WE HAD TODAY WILL BE MORE
SIGNIFICANT ON SAT AND SUN IN THE VLY AS THE TROF AXIS APPROACHES THE
CST AND THEN MOVES OVER NORCAL ON SUN. SUU COOLED OFF SIGNIFICANTLY
TODAY AND AND WOULD EXPECT COOLING INTO THE UPPER 70S ON SUN...THUS
THE DELTA BREEZE IS COMING THIS TROF WILL SRPEAD DRIER AND MORE
STABLE AIR OVER NORCAL AND THE SIERRA FOR QUIETER WX OVER THE MTNS ON
SUN.

THE MRF/EURO/UK ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT A SIZZLING HEAT PUMP
HIGH WILL BUILD OVER THE MIDWEST...KEEPING A TROF OVER/OFF THE CST
THRU THE EFP PERIOD FOR DRY AND SEASONABLE WX OVER OUR FCST AREA.
 JHM

STO...NONE.

BLU BU 067/081 061/077 058 79210
RBL UU 070/099 066/095 062 79000
SAC UU 060/090 057/087 056 79000

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 14, 2:21 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSTOAlpine59 min
Aug 14, 3:09 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningSTOAlpine, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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.