Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 72, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

June 20, 1999Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jun 20, 1999, 8:45 PM MDT for Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico. 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 outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued
Jun 20, 1999, 8:45 PM MDT (02:45 UTC)
Expired
Jun 21, 1999, 12:00 AM MDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Eddy County, NM, Lea County, NM

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 186 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:45 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 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 185 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 00:00Z on 1999-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1288 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 00:00Z on 1999-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -34 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1288 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1061 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.2
Supercell composite
-1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 210248
FFWMAF
NMC015-025-210600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
845 PM MDT SUN JUN 20 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN EDDY COUNTY IN NEW MEXICO
  SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY IN NEW MEXICO

* UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT

* AT 845 PM MDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 10
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF QUEEN TO 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LOVING TO 5 
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF OIL CENTER...MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THIS FLASH FLOOD WARNING INCLUDE...   
  OIL CENTER...KNOWLES...HUMBLE CITY...MONUMENT...NADINE...HALFWAY...
  AVALON...OTIS...MALAGA...QUEEN...WHITES CITY...LOVING...JAL...
  HOBBS...EUNICE...AND CARLSBAD

RADAR INDICATES THAT BETWEEN 1 AND 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLED ACROSS
PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN LEA AND SOUTHERN EDDY COUNTIES. ADDITIONAL HEAVY
RAINS WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF ARROYOS...DRAWS...AND OTHER LOW 
LYING AREAS.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

LAT...LON 3240 10479 3201 10480 3202 10308 3287 10310

70

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 Jun 20, 8:30 PM MDT, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 8:30 PM MDT, 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
930 PM CDT SUN JUN 20 1999

CONVECTION ISNT AS WIDESPREAD AS FIRST THOUGHT.  WERE A BIT LESS
UNSTABLE THAN THIS TIME YESTERDAY...PROBABLY BECAUSE THE SENSIBLE
HEAT WAS CONSUMED IN EVAPOTRANSPIRATION.  ALSO...WE COULD BE SEEING
SOME MID LEVEL SUBSIDENCE ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF THE ANTICYCLONIC
GYRE ABOVE HRCN ADRIAN.  SAW SOME CONVECTION DEVELOP ON OLD
BOUNDARIES AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS TODAY...BUT WITH THIS WEAK FLOW
REGIME ALOFT...SUBSEQUENT CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT IS SENSITIVE TO
FORCING VIA CONVERGENCE ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES...AND WHEN YOU DONT
HAVE MUCH IN THE WAY OF OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES...YOU DONT HAVE MUCH IN
THE WAY OF THUNDERSTORMS.  FOR NOW...WE RECOMMEND THAT THE FLASH
FLOOD WATCH BE LEFT UP AS ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL...PARTICULARLY
OVER THE PERMIAN BASIN...WILL POSE PROBLEMS.  BUT WE CAN LOWER POPS
DOWN TO CHANCE CATEGORY FOR THE REMAINDER OF TONIGHT.  OTHER THAN
SOME TWEAKING OF SKIES OVERNIGHT...NO OTHER CHANGES TO THE ONGOING
FORECAST ARE SUGGESTED.  LBB ZONES OUT...ABQ LOOKS FINE AT THIS
END...70.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Mexico, 1999Every flash flood warning in 1999

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.