Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

July 15, 2002Wharton County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 15, 2002, 8:53 AM CDT for Wharton County, Texas. It was in force for 2 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: Jul 15, 2002, 8:53 AM CDT (13:53 UTC)
Expired: Jul 15, 2002, 11:00 AM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wharton County, TX

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, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 1885 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 389 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 
WGUS54 KHGX 151353
FFWHOU
TXC481-151600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
852 AM CDT MON JUL 15 2002

THE HOUSTON/GALVESTON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WHARTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 1100 AM CDT

* AT 845 AM CDT...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTED SEVERAL SECONDARY
  ROADS CLOSED AROUND THE COUNTY DUE TO FLOODING. ADDITIONAL HEAVY
  THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING SOUTH OF THE AREA...AND WILL MOVE OVER
  WHARTON COUNTY IN THE NEXT 2 TO 3 HOURS. 

* FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN OR NEAR...
  WHARTON...EL CAMPO...BOLING-IAGO

DO NOT CROSS ANY LOCATION WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD

PLEASE REPORT FLOODING TO THE COUNTY SHERIFF...LOCAL POLICE...OR
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 2958 9619 2954 9612 2924 9590 2898 9631
          2929 9659 2940 9636 2955 9627

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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 15, 2:45 AM CDT, 6 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 15, 2:45 AM CDT, 6 hours 8 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
245 AM CDT MON JUL 15 2002

ATMOSPHERE IS IN THE PROCESS OF RELOADING OVER SE TX AGAIN EARLY
THIS MORNING. EVIDENCE OF ITS CAPABILITY IS OCCURRING SW OF AREA
WHERE A CLUSTER OF STORMS IS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. SCT
TSRA/SHWR DEVELOPMENT IS ALREADY BEGINNING OVER THE FA.

FOR UPCOMING PACKAGE...HAVE NOT MADE ANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGES.
BELIEVE ONGOING FORECAST IS IN GOOD SHAPE WITH THE SAME TRENDS STILL
NOTED. 00Z AREA RAOBS STILL INDICATE CLOSE TO 2 INCH PW OVER FA
EARLY TODAY AND THIS IS LIKELY TO INCREASE LATER TODAY AND INTO
EARLY TUES AS A SURGE OF 2.2 TO 2.4 INCH PW PUSHES NORTHWARD OUT OF
THE WESTERN GULF AROUND DEVELOPING MID/UPPER RIDGE CENTERED ALONG
THE NORTHERN GULF COAST. FA AREA IS STILL IN FAVORABLE ENTRANCE
REGION OF 60 KT UPPER LEVEL JET MAX WHICH IS NE OF REGION AND IS
STILL SUBJECT TO SHORT WAVE ENERGY ROTATING AROUND MID/UPPER LOW.
MEAN LAYER FLOW WILL SUPPORT SLOW MOVING AND BACKBUILDING STORMS.
WILL CONTINUE CURRENT FFA AND EXTEND INTO MON NIGHT. AXIS OF BEST
MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS WILL SLOWLY SHIFT W AS RIDGE BEGINS TO
INFLUENCE THE EASTERN ZONES LATE ON TUESDAY. FOR THIS REASON...
BELIEVE POPS WILL DECREASE ON WED OVER THE AREA BUT NOT AS DRAMATIC
AS AVN GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTING. THE MID/UPPER LOW CENTERED OVER
ARKLATX REGION WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT NW AND ELONGATE INTO A SHEAR
AXIS WEST OF THE AREA.

POPS ARE TRENDED CLOSE TO THE AVN/ETA SOLNS WHICH ARE HIGHER THAN
MOS GUIDANCE. MODEL QPFS WILL BE TOO LOW IN THIS SITUATION AND WILL
CONTINUE TO MENTION GENERAL AMOUNTS IN THE 2-4 INCH RANGE FOR THE 24
HR PD OF THE WATCH WITH HIGHER ISOLATED AMTS. DID NOT MAKE ANY
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED PD WITH MID 90S FOR HIGH TEMPS
AND SLIGHT CHC POPS.

33/41

.HGX...FFA SE TX THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT.

PRELIMS...
CLL TT 088/071 088/073 092 767
IAH TT 088/072 088/074 094 866
GLS TT 087/077 088/079 089 866

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 15, 8:01 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Jackson	3 hr
Jul 15, 6:46 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		89 min

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.