Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

July 13, 2002Wharton County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jul 13, 2002, 7:58 PM CDT for Wharton 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 counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 13, 2002, 7:58 PM CDT (00:58 UTC)
Expired
Jul 13, 2002, 11:00 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Wharton County, TX

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 204 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2837 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2002-07-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 41 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
2837 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1109 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
63 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 140058
FFWHOU
TXC481-140400-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
754 PM CDT SAT JUL 13 2002

THE HOUSTON/GALVESTON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1100 PM CDT

* AT 752 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A NEARLY STATIONARY        
  CLUSTER OF STORMS OVER NORTHEAST WHARTON COUNTY. VERY HEAVY        
  RAINFALL HAS BEEN FALLING...RADAR ESTIMATES OF 4 TO 6 INCHES HAS   
  FALLEN NEAR HUNGERFORD BETWEEN 6 AND 8 PM.

* FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN OR NEAR...
  HUNGERFORD.

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.

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 13, 2:35 PM CDT, 5 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 2:35 PM CDT, 5 hours 23 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
235 PM CDT SAT JUL 13 2002

RATHER WIDESPREAD CONVECTIVE COVERAGE ACROSS EASTERN HALF OF CWA
THIS AFTN. SEABREEZE BEGINNING TO SNEAK INLAND SO WILL LIKELY SEE
ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE COASTAL ZONES NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.
ISOLATED DOWNBURSTS REMAIN A POSSIBILITY THIS EVENING WITH SLIGHTLY
DRIER AIR IN LOWEST 3000 FEET.

12Z MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON EVOLUTION OF LARGE SCALE PATTERN.
500 MB LOW OVER NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA WILL SINK SOUTHWARD TO THE
ARKLATEX AREA SUNDAY THEN STALL AND SLOWLY FILL THROUGH THE EARLY
PART OF THE WEEK. THIS SYSTEM WILL KEEP CWA IN DEEP TROPICAL
MOISTURE (PWS 2.0-2.2 INCHES) AND SIGNIFICANT UPPER LEVEL DIFLUENCE
THROUGH MONDAY. WILL CONTINUE TO SEE SYNOPTIC FORCING FROM WEAK
SHORTWAVES ROTATING AROUND UPPER LOW...WITH MESOSCALE BOUNDARIES AND
THE SEABREEZE ACTING AS SURFACE FOCUSES FOR CONVECTION. BOTH ETA/AVN
DEPICT FIRST SHORTWAVE PUSHING ACROSS NORTH TX THIS EVENING
INITIATING ANOTHER ROUND OF TSRA THAT WILL PUSH INTO NRN ZONES
OVERNIGHT. MODELS SHOW CWA MOVING INTO RRQ OF JET STREAK LATE SUNDAY
AND SUNDAY NIGHT WITH UVV INCREASING ACROSS CWA. FINALLY...12Z AVN
PICKS UP ON A NEW SURGE OF TROPICAL MOISTURE (PWS AROUND 2.2 INCHES)
THAT WILL SPREAD INTO SE TX MONDAY. ALL OF THIS POINTS TO HIGH POPS
THROUGH MONDAY...WITH DYNAMICS ALLOWING CONVECTION TO LINGER THROUGH
THE OVERNIGHT HOURS DESPITE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING. WILL HAVE
HIGHEST POPS IN NE ZONES THROUGH PERIOD.

500 MB RIDGE WILL STRENGTHEN OVER THE SOUTHEAST STATES AND BEGIN TO
RIDGE WESTWARD OVER TEXAS STARTING TUESDAY. 12Z AVN SHOWS
SIGNIFICANT DRYING SPREADING ACROSS CWA FROM THE SOUTH BY TUE
NIGHT...WITH PWS DROPPING TO 1.4 TO 1.5 INCH RANGE. WILL LOWER POPS
TO 20 PERCENT FROM WEDNESDAY ONWARD...WITH MAX TEMPS CLIMBING INTO
THE MID TO UPPER 90S. NORMAL HIGHS FOR JULY 15TH-30TH ARE 96 AT CLL
AND 94 AT IAH...SO NO SURPRISES FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.

35/42

.HGX...NONE.

PRELIMS...
CLL TT 074/092 074/091 074 454 NE ZONES 565
IAH TT 075/092 076/090 076 454
GLS TT 080/089 080/087 080 453 SW ZONES 343

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 13, 3:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 18 minutes before
TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-211>214-227-237-238-140900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
340 PM CDT SAT JUL 13 2002

...THREAT FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS THROUGH SUNDAY...

DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE FROM THE GULF WILL COMBINE WITH UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCES TO PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
SOUTHEAST TEXAS THROUGH SUNDAY. HEAVY DOWNPOURS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE
STORMS COULD PRODUCE RAINFALL RATES OF 2 TO 3 INCHES PER HOUR IN A
FEW SPOTS. THE LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINS COULD LEAD TO HIGH STANDING WATER
ON ROADS AND UNDERPASSES...AND IN AREAS OF POOR DRAINAGE. WATER
LEVELS WILL RISE IN AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN...BUT SIGNIFICANT OVERFLOWS OF
STREAMS AND BAYOUS IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

USE CAUTION WHEN DRIVING IN HEAVY RAIN. DEEP PUDDLES ON ROADS CAN
CAUSE YOUR VEHICLE TO HYDRO-PLANE IF YOU ARE TRAVELING AT HIGH
SPEEDS. HIGH STANDING WATER ON FEEDER ROADS MAY BE TOO DEEP FOR
YOU TO CROSS WITHOUT STALLING. AVOID DRIVING THROUGH HIGH WATER.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER WEATHER NEWS SOURCES FOR
FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN. YOU CAN ALSO
VISIT US ON THE INTERNET AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/HGX.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 13, 7:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBurleson, Washington39 min
Jul 13, 7:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXAustin, Washington21 days
Jul 13, 11:03 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXWharton4 hr
Jul 14, 9:45 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazos3 hr
Jul 14, 11:35 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXGrimes55 min
Jul 14, 12:29 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazos, Grimes2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 2002Every 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.