Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 27, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

September 4, 2003Galveston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Sep 4, 2003, 5:22 PM CDT for Galveston County, Texas. It was in force for 113 min. 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 4, 2003, 5:22 PM CDT (22:22 UTC)
Expired: Sep 4, 2003, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 113 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Galveston County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 143 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: 503 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -72 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1068 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -15 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 
WGUS54 KHGX 042225
FFWHOU
TXC167-050015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
522 PM CDT THU SEP 4 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN GALVESTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 522 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A CLUSTER OF STRONG 
THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL MOVING FROM SOUTHERN 
CHAMBERS COUNTY SOUTHWARD TOWARD THE BOLIVAR PENINSULA. PARTS OF THE 
PENINSULA HAVE SEEN MORE THAN A FOOT OF RAIN IN THE PAST 5 DAYS. 
MEDIA REPORTS INDICATE RAINFALL RATES AS HIGH AS 3 INCHES AN HOUR. 
THIS HEAVY RAINFALL WILL LIKELY LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING.

* FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN OR NEAR...
  HIGH ISLAND
  BOLIVAR PENINSULA
  CRYSTAL BEACH

DO NOT CROSS ANY LOCATION WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD

PLEASE REPORT FLOODING TO THE COUNTY SHERIFF...LOCAL POLICE...OR
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 2958 9440 2949 9436 2937 9464 2948 9470

$$

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Sep 4, 2:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 4, 2:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 52 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
230 PM CDT THU SEP 4 2003

SCATTERED SHRA/TSRA INDICATED OVER EASTERN AND SOUTHWEST ZONES OF
CWFA. EXPECT SCATTERED CONVECTION SPREADING REST OF REGION EXCEPT
POSSIBLY NW ZONES BY LATE AFTERNOON. WATER VAPOR LOOP INDICATE TUTT
LOW OVER WESTERN GULF WHILE TROPICAL DEPRESSION IS CHURNING OVER
THE NE GULF. 60S SFC DEWPOINTS NOW FILTERING IN OVER NE TEXAS AS
WEAK NORTHERLY FLOW CONTINUES. BUOYS 035 AND 019 REPORTING NEARLY
SMOOTH SEAS W/NORTH WINDS AT 4 KTS. GRADUAL DRYING OF AIR MASS OVER REGION
WILL BE FROM NE TO SW DUE TO ORIENTATION OF SURFACE RIDGE. MODELS ARE
SHOWING MOISTURE POOLING OVER SW ZONES FRIDAY MORNING. TUTT LOW IS
INDICATED BY ETA MOVING NORTH AND THEN LINGERING NEAR THE SABINE
REGION THIS WEEKEND. WE EXPECT SOME MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS OVER REGION
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...THINNING BY SUNDAY AS UPPER TROUGH MOVES SLIGHTLY
TO THE EAST. LOWER LEVELS WILL BE DRY THIS WEEKEND THOUGH AS SURFACE
HIGH PRESSURE DOMINATE. WITH DEWPOINTS DROPPING TO THE 60S THIS
WEEKEND...WE EXPECT MIN TEMPS TO FOLLOW. HOWEVER ...DAYTIME HIGHS
SHOULD BE CLOSE TO SEASONAL NORMS. GRADUAL INCREASE IN MOISTURE IS
EXPECTED NEXT WEEK. GFS IS SHOWING WEAK MID LEVEL TROUGH DEVELOPING
OVER REGION BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. WE SHALL LEAVE SLIGHT CHANCE
POPS FOR THAT PERIOD.

37/47

.HGX...NONE.

CLL 070/090 065/091 064 21-
IAH 071/090 066/090 065 32-
GLS 077/087 072/086 072 321

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 4, 3:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-
235>238-051200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
335 PM CDT THU SEP 4 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.
EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY THIS EVENING. SOME
OF THE STRONGER STORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL.
OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 4, 2:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria	39 min
Sep 4, 3:15 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Brazoria	2 hr
Sep 4, 4:15 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Harris	2 hr
Sep 4, 5:08 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		67 min
Sep 4, 5:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	40 min

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.