Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 68, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

September 16, 2002Duval County, Jim Wells County, Webb County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this flash flood warning at Sep 16, 2002, 1:53 PM CDT for Duval County, Jim Wells County, Webb County, Texas. 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 as issued.

The facts

Issued: Sep 16, 2002, 1:53 PM CDT (18:53 UTC)
Expired: Sep 16, 2002, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Duval County, TX, Jim Wells County, TX, Webb County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:52 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 784 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 580 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KCRP 161853
FFWCRP
TXC131-249-479-162145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
155 PM CDT MON SEP 16 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN DUVAL COUNTY IN TEXAS
  SOUTHWESTERN JIM WELLS COUNTY IN TEXAS
  SOUTH CENTRAL WEBB COUNTY IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 445 PM CDT

* AT 145 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM MIRANDO CITY EAST TO PREMONT. THE RAIN AREA  
WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.  RADAR ESTIMATES THAT 1 TO 2 INCHES 
OF RAINFALL HAS OCCURRED IN THIS AREA IN THE PAST 3 HOURS.

DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE RAIN AREA FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES ARE POSSIBLE. 
ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS 
AND STREAMS AND OTHER LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT 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.

LAT...LON 2763 9950 2734 9944 2730 9809 2767 9810

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS74 KCRP 162021
FFSCRP
TXC131-249-479-162100-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
315 PM CDT MON SEP 16 2002

THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING ISSUED FOR SOUTHERN WEBB...SOUTHERN 
DUVAL...AND SOUTHWEST JIM WELLS COUNTIES WILL BE ALLOWED TO EXPIRE 
AT 3 45 PM.  

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THAT THE RAINFALL WAS 
LIFTING TO THE NORTH OF THE WARNED AREA. THUS...THE FLASH FLOOD 
WARNING IS BEING ALLOWED TO EXPIRE.  

THE AIRMASS OVER THE AREA REMAINS VERY MOIST THIS AFTERNOON.  
THEREFORE...THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH ISSUED EARLIER FOR THE RIO GRANDE 
PLAINS...THE VICTORIA CROSSROADS AND THE COASTAL BEND WILL REMAIN IN 
EFFECT THROUGH TONIGHT.

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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 16, 10:30 AM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 16, 10:30 AM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1030 AM CDT MON SEP 16 2002

PLENTY OF MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY.  12Z SOUNDING SHOWED PWATS
OF 2.4 IN AND K INDEX OF 37. RADAR AND SATELLITE SHOW THE MAIN
CLUSTER OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS...WITH
AREAS OF MODERATE RAINFALL OVER THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS. MESOETA AND
RUC CONTINUES TO FOCUS THE AFTERNOONS ACTIVITY ACROSS THE EASTERN
COUNTIES...BUT SOILS SATURATED ACROSS THE CWA. WILL CONTINUE WITH
THE CATEGORICAL TO LIKELY POPS...NO CHANGES TO WINDS OR TEMPS NEEDED.

MARINE...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS APPEAR TO BE WEAKENING THIS
MORNING OVER THE WATERS.  RUC AND MESO ETA SHOW A VORT MAX SLIDING
NORTHEAST ALONG THE COASTAL COUNTIES AND ADJACENT WATERS THROUGH
THIS AFTERNOON. WINDS CONTINUE TO BE VARIABLE THIS MORNING DUE TO
PROXIMITY OF THE WARM FRONT AND THE COASTAL TROUGH. BY AFTERNOON
WINDS SHOULD BE NORTHEAST AT MOST LOCATIONS AND BECOME EAST BY LATE
AFTERNOON. WILL REFRESH WORDING...BUT NO MAJOR CHANGES NEEDED.

.CRP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TXZ229>234-239>247 UNTIL 10Z TUESDAY.

71/78

The office that day

Everything else NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 16, 4:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Nueces	47 min
Sep 16, 5:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Nueces	36 min
Sep 16, 6:55 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	Nueces	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 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.