Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 45, NWS Brownsville, TX

October 12, 2003Hidalgo County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this flash flood warning at Oct 12, 2003, 5:20 AM CDT for Hidalgo 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 outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 12, 2003, 5:20 AM CDT (10:20 UTC)
Expired: Oct 12, 2003, 8:00 AM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Hidalgo County, TX

The radar

The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:20 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

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 00:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 2409 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 684 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 56 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS54 KBRO 121022
FFWBRO
TXC215-121300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
520 AM CDT SUN OCT 12 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 800 AM CDT

* AT 515 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL MOVING ACROSS THE RIO    
  GRANDE AND INTO THE WARNED AREA. DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED AN 
  HOURLY RAINFALL RATE OF TWO INCHES PER HOUR APPROACHING THE 
  RIVER BETWEEN LA JOYA AND GARCIASVILLE. 

* 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 MAY EXPERIENCE 
  FLOODING DURING THE NEXT THREE HOURS INCLUDE LA JOYA AND SULLIVAN 
  CITY.
  
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.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODING. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT QUICKLY. MOVE
UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS
SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT. MOST FLOOD RELATED DEATHS OCCUR
IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER COVERED BRIDGES...
DIPS...OR LOW WATER CROSSINGS. NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...
EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT. TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER
GROUND.

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

LAT...LON 2675 9801 2604 9805 2623 9860 2675 9832

$$
SIERRA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 12, 1:58 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Jim Hogg, Starr, Zapata	3 hr
Oct 12, 3:19 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Brooks	3 hr
Oct 12, 4:48 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Jim Hogg, Starr, Zapata	3 hr
Oct 12, 5:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Hidalgo	37 min
Oct 12, 6:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Hidalgo	45 min
Oct 12, 6:08 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Brooks	3 hr
Oct 12, 7:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Hidalgo	46 min
Oct 12, 7:38 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Hidalgo	52 min
Oct 12, 8:10 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Brooks, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Starr, Zapata	3 hr
Oct 12, 8:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Brooks, Kenedy	39 min
Oct 12, 9:52 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Kenedy, Willacy	3 hr
Oct 12, 10:21 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Cameron	3 hr
Oct 12, 1:34 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BRO	Cameron	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.