Alert archive / New Mexico / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 77, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

June 21, 1999Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jun 21, 1999, 10:00 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 4 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 21, 1999, 10:00 PM MDT (04:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 22, 1999, 2:00 AM MDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lea County, NM

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 166 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:03 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, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 165 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 1999-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 677 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 1999-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 17 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
677 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1074 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 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
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 220400
FFWMAF
NMC025-220800-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
1000 PM MDT MON JUN 21 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 200 AM MDT

* AT 951 PM MDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A LINE OF
  THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN EXTENDING FROM ABOUT 10
  MILES EAST OF CROSSROADS TO 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MALJAMAR TO
  ABOUT 30 MILES WEST OF JAL.  MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 10 TO 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THIS FLASH FLOOD WARNING INCLUDE...   
  OIL CENTER...BRONCO...CROSSROADS...GLADIOLA...MCDONALD...
  MALJAMAR...KNOWLES...BUCKEYE...HUMBLE CITY...MONUMENT...NADINE...
  HALFWAY...TATUM...LOVINGTON...JAL...HOBBS AND EUNICE

THE GROUND IN THIS AREA IS ALREADY SATURATED FROM PREVIOUS RAINS.
RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE...MAINLY OVER
WESTERN LEA COUNTY.  ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WILL LEAD TO 
FLOODING OF ARROYOS...DRAWS...AND OTHER AREAS PRONE TO FLASH
FLOODING.

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.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

LAT...LON 3358 10370 3297 10373 3296 10380 3254 10380
          3253 10371 3202 10371 3201 10307 3356 10305

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 21, 9:04 PM MDT, 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 9:04 PM MDT, 56 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1004 PM CDT MON JUN 21 1999

ONGOING FLASH FLOOD EVENT PRECLUDES DISCUSSION.  UPDATED NM WZIS.
LBB LOOKS FINE AT THIS END...70.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 21, 8:23 PM MDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before
NMZ027-028-220330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
922 PM CDT (822 PM MDT) MON JUN 21 1999

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DROPPED 4 TO 5 INCHES OF RAINFALL OVER
PARTS OF SOUTHERN EDDY COUNTY...WEST OF A LAKEWOOD TO CARLSBAD TO
MALAGA LINE SINCE 530 PM MDT.  AT 8 PM MDT...FLOODING WAS REPORTED
TO THE SOUTHWEST OF CARLSBAD ON DARK CANYON ROAD, (COUNTY ROAD 408),
WITH A FOOT OF WATER REPORTED OVER PORTIONS OF THE ROAD.  ADDITIONAL
HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS THIS AREA DURING THE
REST OF THE EVENING.  RESIDENTS ALONG DARK CANYON AND INTO CARLSBAD
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR ADDITIONAL WARNINGS OR STATEMENTS.

AKL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 21, 6:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEddy43 min
Jun 21, 7:30 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy2 hr
Jun 21, 7:56 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea2 hr
Jun 21, 9:23 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy3 hr

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.