Alert archive / Missouri / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 69, NWS Springfield, MO

August 18, 2002Phelps County, Missouri

NWS Springfield, MO issued this flash flood warning at Aug 18, 2002, 10:55 AM CDT for Phelps County, Missouri. 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: Aug 18, 2002, 10:55 AM CDT (15:55 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 2002, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Springfield, MO
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Phelps County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:56 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

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 1679 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -118 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1065 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 211 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 206 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS53 KSGF 181555
FFWSGF
MOC161-181900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1051 AM CDT SUN AUG 18 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SPRINGFIELD HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN PHELPS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 200 PM CDT

* AT 1045 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH TORRENTIAL RAINFALL APPROACHING THE WARNED AREA.
  DOPPLER RADAR AND THE VICHY-ROLLA AIRPORT INDICATED THAT BETWEEN
  TWO AND THREE INCHES OF RAIN HAD ALREADY FALLEN ACROSS THE AREA    
  THIS MORNING. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING ANOTHER TWO 
  INCHES OF RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED AREA.

* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO 
  OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...
  ROLLA...ST. JAMES...FLAG SPRING AND ROYAL. PERSONS ALONG SPRING 
  CREEK AND THE BOURBEUSE RIVER SHOULD BE PREPARED TO SEEK HIGHER 
  GROUND.

BECAUSE OF THE HILLY TERRAIN OF THE OZARKS...THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF
LOW WATER CROSSINGS WHICH ARE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS IN HEAVY RAIN. DO
NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL ACROSS FLOODED ROADS. FIND ALTERNATE ROUTES. IT
ONLY TAKES A FEW INCHES OF SWIFTLY FLOWING WATER TO CARRY VEHICLES 
AWAY.

LAT...LON 3815 9154 3778 9155 3788 9181 3802 9204
          3804 9164 3816 9164

BOOKBINDER

1 follow-up statement

813 
RWUS32 KSGF 181702
FFSSGF
MOC125-161-181900-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1200 PM CDT SUN AUG 18 2002

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 100 PM CDT FOR EASTERN 
MARIES COUNTY...AND UNTIL 200 PM CDT FOR NORTHERN PHELPS COUNTIES...

AT 1156 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
THAT 3 TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN ACROSS THE WARNED 
AREA...GENERALLY ALONG AND EAST OF A VIENNA TO ROLLA LINE. THIS 
INCLUDES LOCATIONS ALONG THE GASCONADE RIVER...BOURBEUSE RIVER...AND 
SPRING CREEK.

ALTHOUGH HEAVY RAINFALL HAS ENDED...RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE 
RAINFALL HAS NOT YET COMPLETED. FLASH FLOOD IS LIKELY STILL ONGOING 
ACROSS MUCH OF THE WARNED AREA. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH LOCATIONS WHERE 
YOU CANNOT DETERMINE THE WATER DEPTH. DIPS...LOW SPOTS...AND LOW 
WATER CROSSINGS ARE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING.

IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...REPORT IT TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT 
AGENCY SO THAT THEY MAY TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION TO CLOSE AFFECTED 
ROADWAYS.

LAT...LON 3832 9166 3821 9165 3818 9157 3778 9154
          3779 9185 3833 9218

BOOKBINDER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Springfield, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 10:13 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Maries	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Missouri, 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.