Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Los Angeles, CA

December 19, 2002Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, California

NWS Los Angeles, CA issued this flash flood warning at Dec 19, 2002, 11:12 PM PST for Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, California. It was in force for 108 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 19, 2002, 11:12 PM PST (07:12 UTC)
Expired: Dec 20, 2002, 1:00 AM PST
In force: 108 min
Issued by: NWS Los Angeles, CA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Santa Barbara County, CA, Ventura County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 00:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 50 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 77 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 484 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 765 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 
WGUS56 KLOX 200712
FFWLOX
CAC083-111-200900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
1100 PM PST THU DEC 19 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OXNARD HAS EXTENDED THE

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY INCLUDING THE CITY OF SANTA
  BARBARA AND ADJACENT SANTA YNEZ MOUNTAINS

* UNTIL 100 AM PST

* AT 1053 PM PST...DOPPLER RADAR AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS BOTH 
INDICATE CONTINUED MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE 
SOUTH COAST OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT SANTA YNEZ 
RANGE. A GAGE AT SAN MARCOS PASS REPORTED OVER AN INCH OF RAINFALL 
BETWEEN 10 AND 11 PM. VANDENBERG RADAR SHOWS SHOWERS  CONTINUING TO 
FORM OVER THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL AND MOVING INLAND. THE 
ADDITIONAL RAINFALL ON TOP OF ALREADY SATURATED GROUNDS PRODUCE A 
CONTINUED THREAT OF SIGNIFICANT STREET FLOODING...AS WELL AS 
FLOODING OF CREEKS AND SMALL STREAMS ALONG THE FOOTHILLS.

* LOCATIONS LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE FLASH FLOODING INCLUDE SANTA   
BARBARA AND VICINITY...AS WELL AS THE SANTA YNEZ MOUNTAINS.

MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO
CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT.

THE GROUND IS VERY SATURATED...AND MANY CREEKS AND RIVERS ARE NEAR
CAPACITY. THEREFORE NOT AS MUCH RAIN IS REQUIRED TO GENERATE
FLOODING.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER HAVE THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN
OXNARD.

LAT...LON 3443 12051 3433 11946 3453 11941 3457 12044

The office that day

Everything else NWS Los Angeles, CA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 19, 5:00 PM PST	Special Marine Warning	LOX		2 hr
Dec 19, 7:15 PM PST	Special Marine Warning	LOX		2 hr
Dec 19, 7:24 PM PST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOX	San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara	56 min
Dec 19, 8:53 PM PST	Flash Flood Warning	LOX	Santa Barbara	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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.