Alert archive / Montana / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Billings, MT

August 24, 2002Big Horn County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this flash flood warning at Aug 24, 2002, 7:33 AM MDT for Big Horn County, Montana. 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: Aug 24, 2002, 7:33 AM MDT (13:33 UTC)
Expired: Aug 24, 2002, 10:30 AM MDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Big Horn County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:32 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

Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 12:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 272 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 83 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -249 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1475 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 27 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 
WGUS55 KBYZ 241333
FFWBYZ
MTC003-241630-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
732 AM MDT SAT AUG 24 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWEST BIG HORN COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA

* UNTIL 1030 AM MDT

* AT 730 AM MDT...BILLINGS DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SLOW MOVING 
THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST BIG HORN COUNTY. BILLINGS DOPPLER RADAR 
INDICATED ONE HOUR RAINFALL RATES OF 3 INCHES...WITH AN ESTIMATE OF 
UP TO 5 INCHES OVER THE LAST 3 HOURS...17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HARDIN. 
MORE THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING AND MOVING INTO THE WARNED AREA 
THIS MORNING...RESULTING IN EXCESSIVE RAINFALL.

SEEK HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY

$$

LAT...LON 4552 10812 4552 10806 4577 10807 4581 10805
          4580 10765 4542 10761 4542 10813

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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 24, 2:56 AM MDT, 4 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 24, 2:56 AM MDT, 4 hours 37 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
256 AM MDT SAT AUG 24 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY AND SUN...

PESKY UPPER LEVEL LOW STILL SPINNING OVER OREGON AS SHOWN AT THE OUTSET
BY BOTH AVN AND ETA. BOTH MODELS WITH TIME WEAKEN THIS SYSTEM AS A
TROUGH AND PASS IT NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND SUNDAY...ONLY TO BE FOLLOWED
BY ANOTHER TROUGH. ALTHOUGH TIME HEIGHTS ON BOTH MODELS DRY THINGS OUT
SUNDAY...AM NOT COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE WITH THAT IDEA. ANOTHER TROUGH
FORMS BEHIND THIS SYSTEM AND THERE ARE YET RIPPLES IN THE FLOW BEHIND
IT. WILL KEEP MENTION OF ISOLATED SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS FOR SUNDAY.
HAVE MORE OR LESS KEPT TEMPERATURES AS PRESENT FORECAST INDICATES FOR
THIS PERIOD. CHB

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...THU...FRI...

SOMEWHAT OF A REPRIEVE FROM THE WET WEATHER LOOKS IN STORE FOR THE DAY
ON MONDAY AS SLIGHT RIDGING OCCURS ALOFT. BUT THE NEXT SYSTEM TO
AFFECT THE AREA WILL BE IN PLACE MONDAY NIGHT. THE NEXT TROUGH MORE OR
LESS STAYS PUT OVER WESTERN MONTANA INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND
DEVELOPS A CLOSED LOW OVER SOUTHWEST IDAHO BY WEDNESDAY 06Z. THIS LOW
LOOKS TO BE IN NO GREAT HURRY TO MOVE OUT. ALREADY A MENTION OF
PRECIPITATION IS IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST FOR TUESDAY. WILL ALSO HAVE
A MENTION OF PRECIPITATION FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUE IT INTO
THURSDAY...LOOKING AT THE NEWER MRF. A WEAK SHORT WAVE RIDGE LOOKS
LIKE IT AFFECTS THE AREA FRIDAY...SO ENDING PRECIPITATION THEN APPEARS
REASONABLE. TEMPERATURES MAY BE SOMEWHAT COOLER WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
THAN WHAT IS IN THE PACKAGE RIGHT NOW. FRIDAYS PROPOSED TEMPERATURES
LOOK GOOD. CHB

    TDY SUN     MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 082 055/084 053/080 053/080 051/079 053/080 054/083
    4/T 42/T    20/E    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/E
LVM 078 045/080 047/076 046/077 047/078 047/078 047/082
    4/T 42/T    20/E    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/B
HDN 085 052/087 050/084 050/084 049/083 049/083 049/085
    4/T 42/T    20/E    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/E
MLS 087 058/088 058/085 055/083 055/082 055/082 055/085
    4/T 42/T    20/E    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/E
4BQ 087 057/087 057/084 054/082 054/081 055/081 055/082
    4/T 42/T    20/B    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/E
BHK 083 056/085 055/083 051/081 051/079 052/079 052/080
    4/T 42/T    20/E    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/E
SHR 079 051/084 049/081 049/078 049/078 050/079 051/082
    4/T 42/T    20/B    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/B

.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Montana, 2002 Every flash flood warning in 2002

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.