Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 3, 2003Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 3, 2003, 4:48 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. 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: Aug 3, 2003, 4:48 PM EDT (20:48 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 2003, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 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), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:47 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 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 71 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: 249 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -82 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 935 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KBUF 032052
FFWBUF
NYC009-032300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
448 PM EDT SUN AUG 3 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 445 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED            
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN EXTENDING FROM ASHFORD TO       
  ELLICOTTVILLE TO ALLEGANY STATE PARK. THE STORMS WERE MOVING       
  SLOWLY NORTHWARD AT 15 MPH.

* THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE OVER THIS SAME GENERAL AREA BEFORE     
  WEAKENING AFTER 6 PM. ONE TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN CAN BE EXPECTED  
  IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

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.

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

LAT...LON 4227 7876 4214 7859 4236 7836 4246 7849

$$

SFM

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 032159
FFSBUF
NYC009-032230-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
558 PM EDT SUN AUG 3 2003

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

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN
THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...ENDING THE
FLASH FLOOD THREAT. EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE RECEDING...
SOME ROADWAYS STILL MAY BE COVERED WITH WATER. YOU SHOULD AVOID
DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.

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

$$

SFM

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 4:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wayne	56 min
Aug 3, 4:30 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BUF		60 min
Aug 3, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Oswego	30 min
Aug 3, 5:19 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BUF		56 min
Aug 3, 7:30 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BUF		60 min

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.