Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 16, NWS Brownsville, TX

September 12, 2003Zapata County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this flash flood warning at Sep 12, 2003, 4:58 AM CDT for Zapata 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: Sep 12, 2003, 4:58 AM CDT (09:58 UTC)
Expired: Sep 12, 2003, 7:00 AM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Zapata County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 187 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:02 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 199 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: 3552 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 930 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.5
Supercell composite: 8.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KBRO 120959
FFWBRO
TXC505-121200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
458 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ZAPATA COUNTY IN DEEP SOUTH TEXAS

* UNTIL 700 AM CDT

* AT 458 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS THE WARNED AREA. 
  DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED RAINFALL RATES OF UP TO THREE INCHES PER 
  HOUR

* SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE
  WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH
  FLOODING TO OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING
  INCLUDE...ZAPATA AND ESCOBA.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY
ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS...STREAMS AND OTHER LOW
LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLOODING.

LAT...LON 2727 9897 2679 9897 2669 9905 2658 9917
          2685 9929 2706 9946 2727 9946

$$

54

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS74 KBRO 121054
FFSBRO
TXC505-121200-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
549 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2003

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 700 AM FOR ZAPATA COUNTY...

AT 548 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS ZAPATA COUNTY. DOPPLER 
RADAR ESTIMATED RAINFALL RATES OF THREE INCHES PER HOUR NEAR THE 
CITY OF ZAPATA.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL IN 
ZAPATA COUNTY. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE 
FLOODING TO OCCUR...ESPECIALLY ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND NEAR LOW 
WATER CROSSINGS. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING 
INCLUDE...ZAPATA AND ESCOBA.

THE ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED STREET FLOODING IN 
ZAPATA...ARROYOS RUNNING FULL AND FLOODING OF UNITED STATES HIGHWAY 
83 NEAR ZAPATA.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS
AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY ROADS
AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS...STREAMS AND OTHER LOW LYING
AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

LAT...LON 2727 9898 2678 9897 2655 9915 2701 9942
          2728 9947

$$

54

000 
WGUS74 KBRO 121200
FFSBRO
TXC505-121230-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
700 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR ZAPATA COUNTY HAS
BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE...

EXCESS RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS
AND CREEKS IN THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO
RECEDE...ENDING THE FLOOD THREAT. IF FLOODING HAS BEEN OBSERVED...
PLEASE REPORT IT TO YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.

LAT...LON 2727 9898 2679 9897 2658 9917 2693 9932
          2704 9946 2728 9945

$$

54

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 12, 5:37 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Starr	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.