Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 20, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 12, 2003Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 12, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. 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 12, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT (00:43 UTC)
Expired: Aug 12, 2003, 11:45 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:44 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 1495 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 751 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 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 
WGUS51 KBUF 130043
FFWBUF
NYC009-130345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
843 PM EDT TUE AUG 12 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  CATTARAUGUS COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK

* UNTIL 1145 PM EDT

* AT 834 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A          
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN NEAR ISCHUA...MOVING NORTH       
  NORTHWEST AT 5 MPH.

* THE THUNDERSTORM WITH EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL BE...NEAR            
  FRANKLINVILLE AT 940 PM EDT

FLOODING IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS STORM HAS BEEN REPORTED BY THE 
ISCHUA FIRE DEPARTMENT.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING.
IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. IF
YOU LIVE ALONG A STREAM OR CREEK ACT NOW TO PROTECT LIFE AND
PROPERTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS SWIFTLY FLOWING WATERS OR WATERS OF
UNKNOWN DEPTH BY FOOT OR BY AUTOMOBILE.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.

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.

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

LAT...LON 4201 7854 4202 7832 4243 7833 4243 7863

$$

JJR

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 130219
FFSBUF
NYC009-130245-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
1019 PM EDT TUE AUG 12 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR CATTARAUGUS 
COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK HAS BEEN CANCELLED...

AT 1015 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THAT THE 
THUNDERSTORM THAT CAUSED THE HEAVY RAIN OVER CATTARAUGUS COUNTY HAD 
ENDED. IN ADDITION...A REPORT FROM THE ISCHUA FIRE DEPAERTMENT 
INDICATED THAT FLOOD WATERS WERE RECEDING ON AREA ROADWAYS. AS A 
RESULT...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR CATTARAUGUS COUNTY HAS BEEN 
DISCONTINUED AS OF 1015 PM.

EVEN THOUGH THE WARNING HAS BEEN CANELLED...BE AWARE THAT STANDING 
WATER MAY STILL EXIST ON SOME AREA ROADWAYS...AS WELL AS IN POOR 
DRAINAGE AND LOW LYING AREAS. AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED 
AREAS...AND STAY AWAY FROM STREAMS OR CREEKS THAT ARE RUNNING 
HIGH.

STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

$$

JJR

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 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.