Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 42, NWS Las Vegas, NV

July 15, 1999Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Jul 15, 1999, 5:50 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. It was in force for 115 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 15, 1999, 5:50 PM MST (00:50 UTC)
Expired
Jul 15, 1999, 7:45 PM MST
In force
115 min
Issued by
NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area
Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

The nearest sounding before it

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 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, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 00:00Z on 1999-07-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 479 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 00:00Z on 1999-07-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 22 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
479 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
908 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-10 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 KLAS 160050
FFWLAS
AZC015-160245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
550 PM PDT (550 PM MST) THU JUL 15 1999


*  FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR
   FAR NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN ARIZONA

*  UNTIL 745 PM MST (745 PM PDT)

*  SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
   I-15 BETWEEN EXIT 18 AND THE ARIZONA/UTAH BORDER
   MOUNT TRUMBULL LOOP

*  AT 550 PM MST RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF NEARLY STATIONARY STORMS
   OVER THE PAIUTE WILDERNESS AREA. THESE STORMS WERE DEVELOPING
   TOWARD THE WEST. RADAR ESTIMATED RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO 4
   INCHES PER HOUR FROM THESE STORMS. AS A RESULT...FLASH FLOODING
   OF THE MOKAAC WASH AND BLACK ROCK CANYON IS OCCURRING OR
   IMMINENT.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO WASHES...NARROW
STEEP-WALLED CANYONS...AND NORMALLY DRY CREEKS WHICH CAN BECOME
KILLERS IN HEAVY RAINS. DRY CREEK BEDS...WASHES...AND NARROW STEEP-
WALLED CANYONS CAN BECOME RAGING RIVERS IN A MATTER OF MINUTES IN
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. CAMPERS AND HIKERS SHOULD AVOID CAMPING ALONG
STREAMS WHEN POTENTIALLY FLOODING RAINFALL THREATENS.

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 15, 1:50 PM MST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 1:50 PM MST, 4 hours before
MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
150 PM PDT THU JUL 15 1999

SYNOPSIS...LINGERING MOISTURE AND A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE OVER
SOUTHERN NEVADA WILL PROVIDE FUEL FOR SOME THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE
EVENING...MAINLY SOUTH CENTRAL NEVADA...NEAR THE SIERRA...AND IN
NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY ARIZONA. OTHERWISE INCREASING SOUTHWEST FLOW
WILL CAUSE HUMIDITY LEVELS TO SLOWLY DROP EACH OF THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

DISCUSSION...WEAK HIGH LEVEL SHEAR VORTICITY SPREADING ACROSS MID TO
LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE FROM EASTERN SIERRA ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL
NEVADA AND NORTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON HELPING FIRE LOW-END
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. INSTENSITY OF ACTIVITY FAIRLY STRONG WITH
STILL GOOD MOISTURE LEVELS...GOOD CAPE...AND SOME ADDED DIRECTIONAL
SHEAR.  WILL HAVE TO MONITOR THIS AREA REMAINDER OF AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. CELL MOVEMENT IS ACTUALLY LESS THAN YESTERDAY.  WILL COVER
THIS WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY THIS EVENING AND MENTION
WIND GUST POTENTIAL TO 40 MPH AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. IN SPITE OF
SHARP MID LEVEL DRYING NOTED ON WATER VAPOR SATELLITE...THE LOWER
ATMOSPHERE REMAINS ADEQUATELY MOIST FOR AT LEAST ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH EARLY EVENING MOST AREAS TO THE SOUTH.

RATE OF DRYING AN ISSUE TODAY. ETA STILL MAINTAINS HIGHEST LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN ZONES THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING...
WHILE AVN AND NGM SIMILARLY AGRESSIVE IN DRYING.  BELIEVE IT WILL
TAKE AT LEAST ANOTHER DAY OF SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT TO SEE SIGNIFICANT
SURFACE DRYING...DESERTS STILL APPEAR UNIFORMLY MOIST...SO ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MAINLY HIGHER TERRAIN FOR FRIDAY LOOKS VALID
AGAIN. PREFER IN-BETWEEN THE TWO CHOICES ON RATE OF DRYING.

WILL BANK ON SOUTHWEST FLOW FINALLY BEING STRONG ENOUGH SATURDAY AS
NEXT STRONG SHORT WAVE CARVES OUT DEEP LOW ACROSS NORTHERN OREGON TO
DROP DEWPOINTS BACK INTO THE 30S/40S WEST OF THE COLORADO AND 40S/50S
TO THE EAST. ONE REAL NICE THING WITH THIS: ALTHOUGH TEMPERATURES
WILL WARM A DEGREE OR TWO EACH DAY WITH THE DRYING...SLIGHT HEIGHT
FALLS WILL KEEP HEIGHTS AND THICKNESSES BELOW NORMAL.  SO WE WILL
BENEFIT BOTH FROM RETURN TO DRIER AND A LITTLE BELOW NORMAL
TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

PLAYING DRY EXTENDED THROUGH MONDAY BEFORE THE MRF BRINGS A SLUG OF
MID LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND PERIPHERY OF REBUILDING FOUR-CORNERS RIDGE
TUESDAY AND INTO MAINLY SOUTHERN AND EASTERN FORECAST ZONES. THIS
APPEARS RELATED TO EVENTUAL DECAYING TROPICAL SYSTEM NOW IN EASTERN
PACIFIC AND WILL MAKE THE FAR EXTENDED A BIT OF A GUESS FOR A WHILE.
MCQUEEN

.LAS...NONE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 15, 7:45 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningVEFMohave70 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 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.